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More Than One Way to Skin a Sweater: Ouroborus

The last two sweaters I'm posting in this series both come from Debbie New's wonderful book Unexpected Knitting (Pittsville, WI: Schoolhouse Press 2003). This is knitting for PhDs. And do not try to read the whole thing at once. Read one chapter. Give it time to digest. Then read another. Do be nice to your brain.
The same sweater, above and below. The magic of double-knitting!
I decided that I wanted to try the ouroborus sweater. Ms. New works hers from the center outwards, using double-increases. As tidy double-increases are not as easy to work as tidy double-decreases, I did the math to work mine in the other direction.

The yarn is Takhi Cotton Classic left over from a flamingo-patterned sweater that I made for ZooAtlanta's 2004 Beastly Feast. The fair isle heart pattern is of my own devising. And, silly me, I couldn't decided whether I wanted white hearts on pink or pink hearts on white, so I compromised and double-knit the whole thing. It is reversible. Even the corrugated ribbing is reversible.

In this case, I had a long provisional cast-on followed by the knitting with appropriate decreases. There is a Kitchener graft across the back (in pattern) and another across the tops of the sleeves, much like in a Baby Surprise Jacket. The provisional cast-on was unpicked, and cuffs and bands were added at the end. I did a funky decrease at the corner of the collar to make it turn. I'm not completely happy with the result, but post it here for others to consider and improve.

For about three years, this was my one UFO. I got stuck after the Kitchener graft across the back and just couldn't face the rest. But when the Atlanta Knitting Guild had Barbara Walker and Lily Chin as guests, and the local shops hosted Cat Bordhi, I just had to finish this so I could show it off. I even put it in the South Cobb Arts Alliance member show last year. I call it the Uninterrupted Flamingo Ouroborus. Proof that a reversible ouroborus sweater can be done!

Comments

Susanne said…
I just saw this over on ravelry, and it is amazing, stunning, and clever. And beautiful. I can't imagine trying to figure out knitting an ouroborus backwards.
It's awesome.