impromptu sweater

Spring is coming to southern Wisconsin, but it's coming with a limp. Hard frost night after night, blustery winds, dustings of snow all make it hard to believe the weather will one day be warm and sunny again, but I've spotted crocus and tulips blooming and a few other green things poking up here and there.

March came and went. On a whim, I decided to cast on a sweater, something nice and warm with thick yarn to finish up quick and cuddle up in. It's the Trail Jacket by Hannah Fettig and I'm still wearing it.


This one wasn't in my queue or even on my mind, but Hannah hosted a hashtag on IG (#wewearknitbot) with some sponsored giveaways, so that got her designs in the back of my mind. I had this yarn from a failed test knit (the only one I've botched for Thea, ever, in over a dozen tests for her, and it was all my fault for not checking gauge, that's knitting hubris for you) and I decided to just knit up something quick. 



The yarn is Berroco Blackstone Tweed Chunky. Isn't it the perfect green? Earthy and herby and  tweedy without being too pukey or yellowish.  This green is actually pretty close to my eye color (they used to be brown, but no longer.)


I made two modifications to the pattern. The first was to make the sleeves long instead of 3/4 length. If I'm going to wear a sweater made out of fat woolly yarn with angora in it, I see no point in having sleeves that don't fully cover my arms. 

The second mod was to knit the sleeves flat rather than in the round, as per Karen Templer's suggestion a few weeks ago. I really prefer this method for sleeve knitting, especially on a cardigan. For one thing, the rest of the cardigan was knit back and forth, so my gauge was more consistent when I kept doing that for the sleeves. For another thing, knitting sleeves in the round is quite cumbersome when you've got the whole weight of the sweater there, and going back and forth just feels more comfortable. To get the fit right on the sleeves, I did cast on two extra stitches to have a selvedge for sewing up later, and I had to adjust the decreases just a bit so they wouldn't be bell-shaped at the wrist. I hate hate hate wearing bell sleeves. So floppy. 


As you can see, I'm happy with the finished sweater. I was also one button short, but I didn't want to make a special trip back to the craft store to get another one, and I'll probably never want it buttoned all the way up to the collar anyway, so it's all good.

Our very brief photo shoot in the front yard got a little silly when I tried to climb the crabapple tree.



I know it looks like I'm smiling, but that is a look of panic right before I had to drop to the ground. I'm not so good at tree climbing as it turns out.


Someone decided to photobomb. 



With spring making such a slow start this year, I'm still knitting warm and woolly things. None of it is terribly interesting, but I'll try and do an update of works in progress in the next week or so. I do think that knitting blogs are more interesting when you see the process, not just a parade of finished objects.

But my inspiration lately is really with sewing! I set up that unfinished basement room and it's been really nice to have my own space to work, even if it's rather cave-like. And that baby niece of mine? Yeah, she's going to get some handmade clothes from her auntie pretty soon, whether she needs them or not.

Comments

Julie said…
that cardigan is perfection- I love the yarn, I love how it looks, you did an awesome job!! And I prefer to knit my sleeves flat, too- I never find sleeves boring when I knit them flat, for some reason. And oh, that colour? my fave.
ann said…
I love the sweater! Before I read your notes about the missing top button, I thought it was intentional and very stylish. (I still think it's stylish) ;)

Also, you and Anya are both so beautiful!

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