The Epic Sweater

Way back in August or so of 2008, I decided to begin planning my Epic Sweater. It was a big birthday year, and I figured a big sweater should accompany it. This is the sweater that I will complete before I feel able to begin my Magnum Opus sweater. After that, it, and the birthdays, will all be downhill.

I decided to knit the colorwork of a fairly complex fair isle sweater called Venezia, but in the shape of another fair isle sweater by the same designer called Autumn Rose. I’ll nip the neckline up quite a bit and probably make the sleeves just a tad longer, but even without the changes it turned out to be quite a bit of work to get this party started. A two year party, at least, as you’ll see.

So I did some color conversion and chose some Knitpicks yarns to work with. Over my great birthday getaway of 2008 I swatched and swatched. I found a color combination that I liked (The bottom one in this photo), and determined my gauge.

Next I broke out the spreadsheet program. I duplicated the Venezia colorwork pattern in black and white, each square representing one stitch, and printed a few copies. I’ll basically draw my torso onto these charts and stitch every square four times.

So I was all set to go! Had my yarn, had my swatches, and even bought a really cool bag to carry my monster project in. Then for some unknown reason, I never cast on. Never until this most recent Christmas vacation. I’m so glad that I took good notes along the way, and typed a little bit into my Ravelry project. I sure did use that info two years later when I picked up the project again. More details later,though, as I really want to knit some more on this tonight!