It’s happened again. Soon after a book gets published, it seems that a yarn gets discontinued. The Knitter’s Handy Book of Top-Down Sweaters is no exception. The base yarn for the handdyed Briar Rose Legend that I used for the Unisex Zip is no longer available. Fortunately (I guess), this sweater is in the modified-drop shoulder chapter that is currently only available in the electronic version of the book (that chapter was cut from the print copy due to page constraints), so many of you may not even be aware of the problem.
I learned this sad news from Chris Rosien, owner and dyer of Briar Rose at Clara Parkes’ Knitter’s Review Retreat last month. But, there is a substitute! Glory Days, which is 100% bluefaced leicester (500 yards/8 ounces) should make a perfect match.
To test it out, Chris sent me four (4!) skeins of a beautiful handdyed red.
I plan to knit a substitute with it. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
In my experience, Glory Days is made of incredible Skeins That Do Not End – so you will never run short of yarn! It is wonderful stuff with lovely BFL drape that gets me all giggly to work with. Just you wait!
Now I just need to know how to get the pattern for this sweater, since I bought the print version of the book..
If this is any help, I learned long ago that when I bought a book, if I couldn’t figure out a generic “gauge, weight, materials” description directly from the pattern, I would check the yarn description on a label or whatever, and note that on the pattern in the book. That way, when I decided to knit a 10-year-old pattern, I had an idea of what to substitute for the yarn that no other living person could remember!