Dandy sweater

 I posted the following to my Facebook account a few days ago.

"I spent yesterday applying my new (and refreshed) knowledge from attending Charlene Shafer's workshop on  Design-a-Knit 9 in Peru Indiana Tuesday and Wednesday.  

Last year, I had started a project on hand knitting needles and transferred it to the machine, but wasn't happy with the difference in stitch gauge. (Photo 1) Plus I had some difficulty with the arithmetic converting the instructions around the armholes.  I finally took it off the machine when I needed to use the machine for another project, and there it has languished.

The pattern was Dandy by Sarah Hatton and called for Kaffe Fassette's Colorscapes yarn. (Photo 2) I'm using Encore Chunky Colorspun and Jojoland Fugue from my stash.  Although both these yarns are "chunky" there is a slight difference in weight, so I'm plying in a very thin strand of commercially-spun angora with the Fugue.

Using my old and new DAK skills I created a garment design, then converted the hand-knitting pattern using the provided  schematic and the measuring tools in DAK to ensure the right number of stitches would be cast on, and the armhole started at the correct row.  (Photo 3). I converted the pattern for my actual stitch gauge with the substituted yarn, and looked at the interactive knitting instructions and they appear to be reasonable. (Photo 4)

Now all that's left is to rip out all my previous work and begin again.  Heavy sigh."