I just can’t help myself. I’m casting on new projects as if I have 8 hands to knit them! While I am waiting for the Rowan Felted Tweed for my Blank Canvas to arrive, I decided that I must go ahead and swatch for Oshima. So I did. I wanted to use up stash yarn if possible. I thought it would be fairly easy to get gauge with worsted weight yarn, and that opened up several options for me.

oshima swatch

I took the Jo Sharp DK Wool Tweed and Cascade 220 from my stash to the lake last weekend to swatch. I tried the Jo Sharp first. I seriously believe some yarn manufacturers are just playing jokes with these yarn specifications, because “DK” is starting to lose all meaning for me. I started with a brioche swatch in the recommended needle size. Nope. Went down to an 8. Nope. Tried a 7 and it still looked too large. I sighed and set the swatch aside. I was going to start up with the Cascade 220 after dinner. After waiting an hour or so, I picked up the Jo Sharp swatch and it had relaxed a bit and now looked much more like the correct gauge. Crazy stuff. So I swatched for the stockinette portion and decided I would stick with this yarn. I did wash my swatch and let it dry, just to be on the safe side.

Picking the color was the hardest part for me so far. I love the darker purple and all its tweediness, but I think the brioche would have also looked amazing in the lavender Cascade 220.

It’s a little insane that this pattern takes 5 different needles (and I’m only counting 5 because I magic loop everything). But what the hell. It’s a Jared Flood sweater. That man has such great taste, so he can pretty much do whatever he wants with a knitting pattern and we’ll drool all over it.

oshima swatch-2

This pattern starts with the sleeves, and so far I’m through the cuff that turns up and I’m starting on the stockinette and increases, doing both at the same time. It will be nice to have sleeves done first to eradicate some of the sleeve ennui that often hits me later in patterns.

More fresh WIPs to come soon.

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