Snail Spirals

Another few hours knitting last night, and the sweater is now an inch short of a finished back. I was pleased to see that you can't tell where I joined the second ball of yarn, except that there are still two floppy loose stitches because I haven't woven in the tails yet. It's about 2/3 of the way up, towards the right side.

I purposely picked out the two skeins that were closest in grist to knit the body with. The first was 58 yards per ounce, and the second was 59. This measurement was pretty quick and dirty. I took the length measurement from my niddy noddy, which is only approximate, because yarn stretchage (I just made up that word) and yarn piling up will both change the length of the yarn travelling around the arms of the niddy noddy, and my scale only measures to tenths of an ounce, so there could be as much as two tenths difference in weight between the two skeins depending on how the scale rounds off.

I get the impression so far (less than a quarter of the way into the second skein) that the second skein is very slightly thinner than the first. However, you can't tell the difference in the knitting, and the gauge didn't change. I have these first two skeins that are nearly identical for the body, and a third that is a bit thinner (61 yds/oz) for the sleeves. Hopefully I can get both sleeves from one skein. The cuffs and collar (and any remaining sleeve area) will be from the fourth skein, which is about 65 yds/oz. I expect that the little "leftover" skein, Navajo-plied from the last bobbin, will not be used on the sweater, and maybe I can use it in a hat.

This will make the body of the sweater the warmest part, since it has the thickest yarn. The sleeves can be lighter weight, which also allows for easier movement. I'm hoping that the gauge won't change too much with the thinner yarn, but if it does, I'll just pick up a few more stitches and go down a needle size.

I also discovered last night, when I put the front and back stitches on separate needles, that the circumference of the body is 30 inches, not 28. I guess having something on one circular needle so it can't really lay flat isn't the most accurate way to measure. That's OK, though, because I actually planned the sweater around a 30" circumference, based on my swatch gauge, and thought that it was just coming out smaller due to the swatch lying to me. Either way it's still big enough for Emma to grow into, and I'm happy with the fabric.