Gearing up for Nerd Wars with some swatching. I did a few 1×1 fair-isle swatches. Normally, stockinette stitches are wider than they are tall, but fair-isle plays some tricks and they’re generally pretty square in the end. It’s nice, because I don’t have to rechart my graphs after all. I did a swatch with the star/medallions that I designed myself, and I’m iffy on them. At first, I didn’t like them at all, but after blocking they’re not so bad. I like the stark contrast of the empty space between them, compared to the overall fairisle, where the lighter blue begins to take over.

The two 1×1 fairisle swatches were done first – the left one, knitted at 10.75 stitches to the inch is very dense, and the stitches get a little non-descript. That was done on size 0 needles. The larger scale is 7.5 stitches to the inch, on size 2 needles. I like the idea of insanely tight gauge, but it’s unnecessary for this design. The larger swatch was knitted in the round and cut like a steek. It has yet to begin to unravel, and I never reinforced it; I will be knitting the jacket in the round as well.

Seeing as how I’ve yet to get started on my Phoenix Jacket that I have had dreamed up for over a year, I’ve decided to take advantage of a little competition to get me going.

Let me introduce you to Nerd Wars. They have their own website, but it’s really a group on Ravelry. Many many teams compete, earning points by knitting to a challenge. Nerd Wars has seen the come and go of one tournament, and I am joining Tournament 2. Each tournament is three months long, each round a calendar month. Each month different challenges are issued, and you must address the challenge in your knitting, and you earn bonus points for including the theme of your team. If you so choose, you may knit a dissertation: a three-month-long project that addresses one of the main challenges. Mine will address the technique challenge.

I didn’t know until today to which team I was assigned, but I had my choices, certainly! I have been happily listed as a Browncoat for this tournament, and my dissertation is the Phoenix Jacket. But first, I must swatch! You’ll see the results of swatches in the following week.

It will be my goal to knit the back and a sleeve in June, the fronts and a sleeve in July. I am leaving on vacation the first days of August, so my finishing work may have to wait until I get back.

Hey, I never said I was sane.

What do you do when the end product of a pattern you were going to make ends up being too small, even at the largest size? Well, if you’re me, you hem and haw over whether to go up needle sizes or work on the pattern to increase the number of stitches. Or, alternatively, design on off the cuff. I decided to do the latter. The yarn is Imperial Stock Ranch’s Bulky 2 Strand, a pencil roving. It’s knitting up to 2.5 stitches to the inch, unstretched, unblocked. Will I have enough yarn to finish? I have no idea. The original sweater intended to have a big cowl, so I’ve got a little leeway in the yardage. Total yardage available: 800. Alas, I don’t have a scale at home to find out how much I’ve used. Some of it has been thrown away, after being obliterated by continual ripping out, reknitting, and swatching. So far, I like the pattern, but the scale of it is cramping my hands. Size 13 needles.

And yes, that is what my desk typically looks like. Creative chaos, and all that. I’ve been working on that all day.. now I really should get to doing what I should be doing.