Stacy's Sweater

Recipient: DH
Designer: Unknown - will check
Pattern: Stacy's Sweater
Source: Simply Beautiful Sweaters for Men
Cancelled: January 3, 2005
Colours: Slate blue with navy accent
Yarn: Luxury Collection 100% FS alpaca, sportweight
Cancelled status: Intended yarn was incorrect gauge
Pictures: None

2005-Jan-5

The amount of flip-flopping I've done on these projects is absolutely incredible. First, I decided that I would, after all, do the Stacy's Sweater for DH out of the gift alpaca, because DH was so obviously very keen on that pattern. Okay, so decision made, right? Wrong. When I went to actually do the pattern, I discovered that it called for a worsted-weight yarn. The alpaca is sportweight. !!! I don't know what the lady at the LYS my MIL bought the pattern and the yarn from was thinking! Just out of sheer doggedness, I tried the alpaca on the pattern anyway, and surprise surprise, the sweater was so small it might not even have fitted me. (And I have about a 24" waist.) So! I went back to DH with this information, and he agreed that it would be better if I did the Henry VII pattern with the alpaca instead. Which is a great shame, because honestly, the Stacy's Sweater would look fantastic done in alpaca, and DH really likes it, and MIL wanted me to do it...so it's kind of sad that I can't. However, the Henry VII sweater is coming along nicely. I'm using the contrasting navy skein of alpaca to do the bobbles. This should give it some extra oomph. DH likes it a lot so far.

2004-Dec-31

I finished the test swatch with the alpaca and discovered that I can actually get pretty close to Henry VII gauge with the stuff. Thus I presented my findings to DH. I told him that although the Stacy's Sweater pattern would of course look lovely with the alpaca, and nice on him, and it was what his mom had in mind, I didn't think the pattern was too exciting and would rather make the Henry VII sweater out of it instead. He said he'd think about it. He likes the Henry VII sweater very much, but he is also quite keen on the Stacy's Sweater pattern. After hearing that, I'm a bit more gung-ho on doing the Stacy's for him, since he obviously likes it so much. And now that I think about it, the yarn would suit the Stacy's pattern better. Oi! So many choices! I shall await DH's decision.

2004-Dec-29

Another gift from MIL - she gave me a copy of Linden Phelps' and Beryl Hiatt's Simply Beautiful Sweaters for Men and enough alpaca to make "Stacy's sweater" in the book. The yarn is slate blue, except for one skein which is navy, for the colour accent. The sweater was meant to be for either DH or my brother, but I'm thinking DH. There probably isn't enough yarn for the size my brother would need, and the pattern would look better on DH. And I think DH would appreciate the scrumptiousness of the alpaca more. With any luck, this will be my birthday present to him. I've got six months.