I'm sure that at some point, most long-time knitters take chances with their knitting projects. We figure that we've been knitting long enough to earn it. Perhaps we decide not to knit a gauge swatch (which, btw, normally works out as long as you know that you knit close to gauge and you aren't knitting a project like a fitted sweater that absolutely must be perfectly to gauge). Or perhaps we decide to buy just enough of that expensive yarn to make the project rather than an extra ball so we're sure to have enough.
Or, like me, we decide to start a project with what we know won't be enough yarn and decide to change yarns as a design element.
It's all good, especially when you're knitting up another Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman (here's the first one I knit for my babe). That garment is so forgiving and even begs for various yarns to be used. So perhaps the "chance" I was taking wasn't that huge of a chance.
But then I threw in a curve ball.
I knew I wanted to make the sweater from yarn in my stash, and in particular wanted to use some leftover yarn from my cowl project (I just love green). But in looking through the stash, the only other yarn in the correct size that had a complementary color was a big ball of white. Perfect, except that it seemed boring to have just the two colors and to have it change dramatically from one to another without any fanfare.
At first, I thought I'd start in on the white yarn and knit two rows of garter, then switch back to green and knit two rows of garter, then continue on in white. But that seemed boring - however - at that point, I had already committed to where I was going to start the transition and how much green I had left.
Tell me you know what I'm talking about? I gave my ball of green a good eyeballing to see if I could pull off what I wanted to do and decided to go for it:
Two rows garter in white, six rows garter in green, four rows garter in white, four rows garter in green, six rows garter in white, two rows garter in green, then onto straight white. It would be close, I knew it would be. As I flipped my sweater to work that last row of green garter, I wasn't sure if I would make it... stitch by stitch I approached the end... and miraculously had a whole 12 inches left of green yarn! The knitting fairies were on my side this time, and I love how the transition looks.
Given that we dipped below freezing last night, my littlest will surely get a bit of wear from this Spring sweater (once I finish it).
