Worsted Bridie

We all struggle with our ever growing stash. In the past, I, like everyone else, just made accommodations to suit its inevitable growth. But this is going to change, my friends! I am getting rid of my stash, one skein at a time. How am I going to do that? I'm either going to make something out of the yarn, or I will give it away or toss it. No exceptions! No excuses! This is one of the first things I'm taking care of on my (very long) self-improvement list.

To start with my de-stashing, I started with four skeins of Borocco Ultra Alpaca worsted weight yarn in pink that was gifted to me. I'm usually not a pink person, but I needed a cute sweater to replace my thrift store sweater that is sadly, and very drastically, falling to pieces.

I started with searching on Ravelry for a sweater project in worsted weight. I just didn't find anything I really liked. There was a pattern in my Knit Knit book that I liked called "Bridie," but it calls for DK weight yarn.

So I turned to math.

I knit a gauge swatch with my worsted weight yarn on my size 5's and calculated that my gauge in worsted weight was about 4.5 stitches/inch as opposed to 5.5 stitches/inch as the pattern calls for. So I basically took all of the instructions in the pattern, and multiplied them by 0.8 (80%). "Cast on 56 stitches" then means "Cast on 44 stitches" (56 x 0.8 = 44). This is obviously a very simplified explanation  and there was a lot of trial and error involved, but it ended up working pretty well.

Of course, the joke's always on me. This project was intended to get rid of a bunch of yarn, but while I was finishing the last sleeve, I ran out. So that means I have to order some more so I can finish it. D'oh. I got desperate and disassembled my gauge swatch so I could finish the sleeve, and my friend D graciously ordered me another skein so that I can sew it up and do the button band.

Here are the finished pieces:

And by the way, this is Jorge! He certainly caught on quick that cats are supposed to get in the way as much as possible. He is the cutest, though. More about him on another day.

Here's a better picture:

It is blocking as we speak and hopefully within the next few weeks it will be sewn up and finished.