union square market pullover

As I mentioned, I’m in love with the structure of the USMP from the current Inteweave Knits. I was doing some blog-trolling this afternoon (what else have I been doing today) and I came across the knitalong.

Ai yuh, the gauge issues people are having! And here I blithely ordered myself some KnitPicks alpaca this afternoon (Sunset for the main color, Woods for the accent), noting that the suggested gauge of the yarn was a little off, but figuring I’m a tight enough knitter that it won’t be a huge problem. Only time will tell, I suppose. The shipment of yarn will likely arrive this week. Unlike many of those in the kal, though, I am not afraid of knitting on tiny needles (2s or 3s). In fact, I almost prefer it. Admittedly, it will mean that the sweater will take ages to complete, but it’s nice to have an ongoing project, right?

The few finished sweaters that appear on the kal don’t have the same crispness that the piece in the magazine has–I wonder how that could be accomplished? I didn’t want to compromise on the material (100% alpaca) because I figured it would be really nice to knit something that was soft enough to easily wear against my skin.

I also am considering not doing the foldover bit and instead making two backs and joining them. Or, maybe, working the front slightly lower in the neck so that it doesn’t choke me, but keep the feel the same. My other hope is that if my gauge is off–producing a too-large piece–that instead of making drastic adjustments to the pattern, I can simply make it in the smallest size the pattern calls for.