Saturday Sky and Peerie Brocade

Early this morning the sky was blue with white fluffy clouds - like the left side of the picture. By nine o'clock, picture time, the rain clouds (lower right side of the picture) were moving in between the blue sky and earth.

Now it's late afternoon and we're enjoying a nice, gentle rain. It's 51 F/ 11 C. The predicted high of 61 F/16 C is not going to happen. The extended forecast for next week includes the "S" word. (Snow)


Peerie Brocade was on the needles for about nine months. Regular readers heard many progress reports without much real progress along with reasons why I was knitting on something else.

When I finally picked it up again to finish the sleeves, it was like having a new project that was 95% done. So I finished it.

Yesterday I wore it to Kalamazoo to run errands and have a delicious pizza lunch with Mom. She was nice enough to click a few pictures in front of the restaurant.


Pattern: Peerie Brocade from Fall 1999 Knitter's Magazine. Designed by Charlie Hada.

Pattern Modifications: The original pattern is as long as a three quarter length coat. Mine is shorter, but still plenty long. Also, I left out the button holes and buttons. They won't be missed.

Yarn: Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool

Color: Dusty Teal

Needles: US #4

Gauge: 23 stitches/4 inches in pattern

Inspiration: The pattern caught my eye while I was looking through old Knitter's magazines. This yarn was sitting in plain sight without an intended purpose, so I cast on.

I thought the brocade stitch pattern would hold my interest like knitting a gansey. I should have thought a little longer and realized the stitch pattern never changes in this sweater, unlike a gansey, and there's a lot of yardage to knit.

There I go again. I'm still making excuses for taking so long to finish.

The end result is a warm, wool, super practical sweater. I like it and I'm going to enjoy wearing it on chilly days. It's even big enough I can pop it on over a sweatshirt.