Knit Addict

Let’s see if this works any better. Right now computers are NOT my favorite thing, so…

Amys Safari

This is Amys Safari. It’s based on the Kuba from Marianne Isager’s “Knitting out of Africa“.

Before I go much further, a word about this book. When I first heard of it, I wasn’t the least bit interested in it. I don’t know if it was the marketing or what, but I just went “Oh well, another book.” Boy was I wrong. Once I put my hands on it and actually looked, it’s awesome and inspiring. Some of the methods make me cringe a bit - namely the knitting of the whole sweater then stitching and cutting out rounded necklines, but to each his own. I prefer to shape mine while knitting, as learned from numerous Meg Swansen books. That’s easily adapted into the designs. While the stranded sweaters are gorgeous, that’s not where I started.

Now, about my version and it’s name. I looked for the yarn Marianne mentions in her book - I think it’s her own line - but had no luck with the listed source. Google wasn’t much help either, so I went hunting. I’ve got the Knit Picks Pallette sampler, and it looked like the gauge would work. I grabbed my basket of colors and started playing. I need three shades of one color and a contrast. As you can see, I wound up with purple and red. The other thing I’m going to change is the rate of decrease on the sleeves.  I want a more gradual taper, I don’t particularly like the long stretch of snug at the ends like the photo from the book (right, in grey) shows.  I ordered the yarn (for about $20!!) and off I went. You start the sweater by making triangles then joining them and knitting up in the round in garter stitch. The increase and decrease lines have to stay straight. Guess what? On the flight from OKC to STL in June to watch the Cards play I got my lines off, and had to rip an inch or so. Got past that, and as you can see motored right along to the entrelac at the top. Stalled out during camp because I got sidetracked.

However, since Her Royal Purpleness Amy Detjen is a major force at camp, I was inspired to name it after her. Hence Amys Safari.

Started in June 2006. On hold since July 2006. Hopefully the blog will prod me to get my arse in gear and get back to it.