I’ve mentioned this resident of my Chest of Knitting Horrors^TM before. It’s my Fortissima Colori/Socka Color Mexiko pullover. This yarn has since been renamed Fortissima Colori/Socka Color Mexiko Disco, and the fiber content has changed. No review yet under that entry.

The pattern was issued by the manufacturer. It’s one-size-fits-most with the sizing limited by the width needed to express the yarn’s flash patterning, and I’m at the upper end of the fit range. I bought itkitted with five 100gballs of the stuff. Here’s what I’m supposed to end up with. Thankfully, braids, salt,and the forced toothy smile are not required accessories:

My copy is a bit worse for the wear, but you can see the happy striping. This effect is achieved by worked flat from one ball for front and back and from two balls for the sleeves (2 rows A, then 2 rowsB). Thrilled to have a fine-gauge pattern and to be using sock yarn for something larger than socks, I took the plunge. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Just to be annoying, Idecided to knit the front and back side by side, althuogh each is knit flat from its own ball of yarn. I wanted the patterning to sort of match at the side seams. I’m not going for absolute fanaticism on this, a rough approximationis good enough. I found comparable spots in two skeins and started on in. It went o.k. for the first six inches or so. Then the problems started.

See all those balls hanging off the ends? Those are out-takes where the yarn’s color repeat went off-phase, got muddy enough for long enough to interrupt three or more full rows, or disappeared entirely. My intent was to loop out such annoyances, then later go back and use them on the sleeves. (I kept them attached to the work so that in theory – when I went back to re-use themI would have a better idea of where they fit in sequence.)

I’m still hoping to eke out a semblance of matching until I get to the point where sleeves are introduced. Since the front and back will no longer butt up against each other, mismatches will be easier to ignore. I long ago gave up any thought whatsoever of color or pattern-balancing the two sleeves.

As you can see, the problem is getting worse. What started out as a fun lark in fingering weight has turned into an agonizing slog on #3s, with all too many excised bits. I put it down when the fun leaked out. I do hope to take it up again because I still want to be able to wear this piece. Someday…

Moral of this sad tale? If you make life more difficult for yourself, things are not going to be easy.