Start to Finish: Channel Cardigan

Last year I did a series called Start to Finish with my Pomme de Pin Cardigan that went through my decision making and knitting process and I've decided to repeat the process for my next sweater project.  I belong to a wonderful group on Ravelry, My Sister's Knitter, and the current KAL is Brooklyn Tweed patterns. Sounds like fun, right? After a whole lot of back and forth - should I join? should I not? - I decided to knit Channel Cardigan. 

The cardigan calls for Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, a worsted weight yarn that is woolen spun and therefore very light and lofty. I've knit with Shelter in the past and liked it but I didn't want to break the bank since my size calls for 14 skeins, so I went to Ravelry and looked at what other knitters used for their cardigans. Cascade 220 is a top yarn in that list so I decided then and there that I would use Cascade 220; a yarn with a ton of color options, great stitch definition, and is a reasonable price. The downside to using Cascade 220 is that the finished sweater will be heavier since it isn't woolen spun, but I'm okay with that. There are already several modifications that I want to make: removing the belt, making sure the shawl collar is big enough to snuggle into, and possibly adding another button hole. I'm also contemplating changing the raglan seamed sleeves to set in sleeves since raglan cardigans always slide off my shoulders. I knit my swatch at knit night on Monday.

Guess what? Perfect stitch and row gauge on the recommended needles. It's a knitting miracle! I used a US #7 (4.5 mm) needle and knit my swatch in moss stitch as listed in the pattern and it's approximately 5 inches by 6 inches. A good general rule is to knit a swatch big enough that when you measure over four inches you don't run into selvedge stitches; your stitch count will be more accurate since those selvedge stitches sometimes behave a little wonky. This project is now ready to cast on!

On the Radar

I'm so close to finishing my Tambourine sweater and my vanilla commuter socks that I'm starting to daydream about my next project...or projects. Swatching is playing a big part in my evening knitting time and I hope to continue that trend since I've finally learned to enjoy it, but I want to cast on a couple of things that I don't have to think about too hard.

I certainly have sweaters on the brain, in particular lightweight, multi-season cardigans that I can wear about 3/4 of the year in the Pacific Northwest. In no particular order:

• Ursula Cardigan
• Northmavine Hoody
• Sargent Pullover (converted to a cardigan)
• Daisy
• Yangtze Cardigan
• Lace Cardigan in Eyelet Pattern

Ysolda just published Ishnana which is making me a drool a little.
Gudrun Johnston has the lovely little cardigan, Belmont, in her second book.

But the crux of the problem is that I'm trying to work out of stash and my stash, well, the sweater quantities in there are just not exactly what I want to knit with right now. Certainly there are lovely yarns and a couple of them are just right for multi-season cardigans but... but. Apparently I need to daydream a little more and actually dig out some stash and hold it and pet it and ruminate a little on it before I make a final decision.

And some of you might be thinking, "but she said something she didn't have to think too hard about" and to me a sweater is just that - after a swatch and a little planning a sweater is just the right kind of project for me to work on without thinking too hard about the actual knitting. It's the choice of pattern and yarn that's the difficult part.

Smitten

Lately it seems as if my excitement about knitting is waning a bit. I cast on, knit, and bind off projects at my regular knitting clip but things have felt a little...lackluster. Until this week. Amy Herzog* just released a new cardigan pattern, Aislinn, and I felt myself perk right up. Maybe it was the Springtime photography, maybe it was the lace pattern in the front panels, or the cute little ties in the front, but all of a sudden I felt compelled to cast on a swatch and see if I could knit Aislinn out of some recently acquired Miss Babs Yowza - Whatta Skein! in a lovely color called French Marigold. Doesn't that say Spring to you? 

*I've been watching Amy's Craftsy class, Fit to Flatter, in short bursts of quiet time over the past couple of weeks and I'm eager to try out some of her methods and advice on fitting sweaters on my proportionate, straight waisted, and busty self.