Next project..a sweater cardigan

My next project was a sweater. For this, I took a class (April-May '05) at The Knitting Bee a shop near to my home. The instructor Charlene had us choose an Adult or children's drop-shoulder cardigan using an unsual pattern which mapped out all of the increases/decreases. Once we knew our gauge, we just read down the column and followed the instructions.

As usual, my mind raced ahead to a different kind of design. By now, I had discovered that I was not satisfied with the majority of the knitting patterns on the market. When I went into shops and fell in love with the yarn, I would ask about patterns to use the yarn, and would often be asked, "Don't you have a pattern already ?" It seemed that most shops would like us to believe that the pattern is bought first, and then, the yarn is bought according to the pattern. In my mind, I already had an idea of what I would make, but couldn't find the pattern I wanted. In conjunction then, with the pattern from class, I worked with a colleague of mine to map out the design I wanted to knit. I made many swatches for color and gauge, and learned how to use graph paper to plan my design. I learned intarsia, and discovered that I love it.

I used Elsbeth Lavold's Angora in black (a "no-no" in the traditional knitting world for beginners) on a US 7, and Debbie Bliss' Alpaca Silk (also black) on a US 5 for the button band. The pattern called for knitting the button band at the end of the row of the front panels of the cardigan, rather than picking it up at the end. So, each row, I knit across and then, changed to the smaller needle. At each step, I multi-tasked - intarsia, sizing, button bands, button holes. I decreased for the arm hole, and added slip pockets, and a collar. It was fun and challenging.
The class was an 8-week class; we met 4 times, every other week. I was travelling after the first class, so my time was shifted slightly to finish the cardigan within the 8 weeks.

The result ? On the back, a sun setting on water, and on the front, a silhouette of trees with the sunset behind. It was fun.

One of my lessons learned - always follow the instructions for making the first button hole a 1/2" from the bottom edge of the cardigan, otherwise, t won't close.