Mystery Package
I had to delete and repost this post. Apologies if you’ve already read it.
For days now, Fedex has been trying to deliver a package to me—but I wasn’t expecting anything. I received a letter from them asking for my phone number and my buzzer number. How very odd. They usually leave a tag on the front door or look my name up on our entry system. I spoke to one of their customer service guys and even he thought it was odd that I had received a letter.
They tried to deliver the package the very next day and I missed them by about 10 minutes. I still couldn’t think of any delivery I was expecting from Fedex.
It took some sorting out and another conversation with one of their reps to discover that this package had been addressed incorrectly and it had a Toronto phone number on it. A phone number that does not accept incoming calls. Curiouser and curiouser. Still, I wasn’t expecting a package.
It finally arrived yesterday and the return address is Interweave Press. This is exciting. I didn’t order any books. This isn’t how my magazine subscription is usually delivered.
Then it hit me, the sweater I designed and knit and sent off for publication in the spring of 2006—three years ago—has made it’s way home to me. Indeed, when I opened the package it was my Drunken Argyle. I thought I might never see her again. She’s been making the rounds on the No Sheep for You
Editor Amy Singer had asked me if I would like to rework my original Drunken Argyle (man’s vest) as a pullover and in feminine colours. (Devan’s age—three—shows you just how long ago I designed the vest!) For the woman’s v-neck, I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Sock Candy and Lang Opal for the bit of sparkle in the cross-hatch lines.
This is a fine gauge knit to get the most out of all those wonky lines. Because the diagonals meander and don’t go in a straight line, there is no repeat in the diamond pattern so the chart is for the whole sweater. It’s not necessary to follow it faithfully because if you make an error on a row or two, just jog the line over a bit as you go along and no one will be the wiser.
I really love the back which just has the cross-hatch lines in the shiny rayon yarn. Although the premise of Amy’s book was to use non-animal fibres, I’d like to reknit this sweater in wool and maybe mohair or lurex for the cross-hatch lines. We’ll see.
Because of the tiny gauge and intricate intarsia pattern, I do wonder if anyone has knit her? I check periodically on Ravelry, but so far no projects although several people have tagged the design as a favourite.