Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong (FLAK)

We started a new knitalong at the Hillsborough Yarn Shop using the Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong pattern. We met at the shop on Saturday to get to know one another and to pick out yarn.  I ended up buying 11 skeins of Berocca Lustra.  It wasn't the best choice for a cable sweater. 


I worked on some swatching on Sunday, and I’m not terribly thrilled with this yarn. It splits really easily. It’s also really fuzzy and, if I have to frog, it’s going to be a mess. I should have gone with my gut instinct to try out a few different yarns before committing to buying a whole sweater’s worth. When am I going to learn to trust my instincts? The yarn, also, is really pretty in the skein and knitting up, but it’s not nearly as pretty after washing and blocking. I think it might be nice for another sweater, but not great to work with all these cables. I’m going to pick up another skein or two on Sunday and try them out. I hope my LYS lets me exchange. Otherwise, I can probably find some appropriate uses for the yarn. 

I tried out swatching two filler stitches: k2p2 basketweave (I'm not sure if this is the right name) and sand stitch. 

The pattern for k2p2 basketweave is: 

(over an even number of stitches) 
Row 1: K2, P2, repeat to end of row 
Rows 2 and 4: K the knit stitches and P the purl stitches 
Row 3: P2, K2 repeat to end of row 
 
Sand stitch looks different on the front and back and you can decide which you want to be the public side. The pattern for sand stitch is: 
(over an even number of stitches). 
Rows 1 and 3 (wrong side): Knit 
Row 2: Knit 1, purl 1. Repeat from across. 
Row 4: Purl 1, knit 1. Repeat form across. 
 
This is the pattern for the “wrong side” of the sand stitch, sometimes called the dot stitch: 
(over an even number of stitches) 
Row 1 (right side): Knit. 
Row 2: Knit 1, purl 1. Repeat from across. 
Row 3: Knit. 
Row 4: Purl 1, knit 1. Repeat from across. 

The last one is my favorite!