Finished Project: Lakes Jacket in Manos Wool Clasica

Oh hey, a sweater! I've been teasing this one in our reels, and did all the finishing the week before we headed up to Vermont to escape the swamp that is Philadelphia in August. This sweater began back in March, when I knit the Dulce Hat in Manos Wool Clásica for the Philly yarn Crawl. We brought in a bunch of yarn for the event, and the smokey olive shade of Loden was calling my name all weekend. Naomi inspired me over the winter with her Lakes V Neck by Ozetta in Lucky, and the Jacket version seemed like the perfect choice for Clasica's rustic wooliness.I snagged what we had of the Loden, despite not meeting the yardage called for in the pattern, cast on right away, and was making good progress. Then two stupid things happened: One, I confirmed I did not have enough (annoying but tolerable), and two, I was diagnosed with breast cancer* (way more annoying and also mind alteringly terrifying).For the yarn, I called in a big favor, and a whole kilo was delivered to me via my friend Lisa at Fairmount Fibers via H&H in Chicago via Cecilia who was there from Manos in Uruguay. For the cancer, I took an indefinite leave of absence from work** and disassociated while everyone prepped for H&H, had surgery, recovered from surgery, disassociated a little bit more, had 20 doses of radiation, disassociated some more, slooooowly started knitting again, officially finished active treatment at the end of July, and finished my sweater!Having cancer is a lot of things, none of them very good. It required letting go and being patient and being scared and being in pain and getting comfortable with the unknown. It forced me to slow down and not think too far ahead. And so, as part of it all, I saw this sweater a little bit as a metaphor. The Wool Clasica is hand spun and hand dyed, and the variation is part of what makes it beautiful. Due to the kindness of friends, I had enough yarn, but it was from two decidedly different dye lots. Past-me would have set the first lot of skeins aside and started over. But cancer-me said "eff it" and kept knitting. And honestly, I love it. It's cozy and comfortable and unique and most definitely one of a kind. I knit the sweater pretty much as written, except I converted the body and sleeves to be worked in pieces (obvs). I also decreased a lot more dramatically (every 4 rows) on the sleeves because I wanted them to end at my wrists and the cuffs to be smaller in circumference. (This pattern does not come remotely close to being one of the worst offenders, but I cannot begin to handle the gigantic sleeve length/cuff situation that is happening all over knitting right now. Just shockingly large and ridiculous and impractical sleeves hanging everywhere you look.) I also knit the body shorter since I have practically no torso.

Clásica is Manos' flagship (and best, IMO) yarn, and the brand is going through some transition with its US distribution, but I have it on good authority that it will be easy to access again in the very near future. In the mean time, we still have a good amount available via our retail store!

*There is no history of breast or associated cancers in my family going back four generations. I was considered low risk (but still got yearly mammograms!), and never once thought I would get breast cancer, never mind at 45. While I am currently considered "cancer-free", hormone suppression to reduce recurrence risk begins next week, so I will be in "post-active treatment" for the next 5-10 years. My type of cancer (HR+, HER2-) can return at any time, so I will most likely be in some form of post-active treatment for the rest of my life.

I found great support in talking to people my age (why are there so many women under 50 being diagnosed??) throughout the treatment process so if you or someone you know was recently diagnosed and need someone to talk to, please reach out.

**If you want to hear a crazed woman rant and rave about the US healthcare system and how no one should have to work through cancer treatment just to maintain their insurance, hit me up. I could go on for hours.