a surprisingly perfect sweater (almost)
For several years, since I finished mum’s vest, I’ve been trying to come up with a good use of the remaining 1295 yards of stashed yarn. Working through my yarn stash with Jill’s help, we finally found a plan with purpose.
Not only have I collected a fair amount of yarn over the years, I also have many patterns in my library. Even with all this choice at my fingertips, I mostly tend to ignore them and search for something new instead. So I set an additional constraint for this project, not only would I work with yarn that had kicked around my yarn bins for a while, the pattern would ideally be from one of my bookshelves.
In late February, I swatched for a Transverse Cardigan by Ann Weaver from Interweave Knits, Spring 2010. The shape of this design is classic and I also wanted to make a few modifications to make it more penny-friendly.
After swatching, I checked my gauge and then worked through the math, I don’t care for cropped sweaters and I’m most often found in long sleeves so I needed to make a few modifications to make the sweater more wearable. Yes, while I am petite in frame, my torso is proportionally tall. Few shirts or sweaters fit me proper off the rack. I like sweaters that hit at least at my hip, or longer. I don’t want to keep tugging to stay warm! It was easy to lengthen the sleeves, I cast on provisionally for the first sleeve and then just finished them together at the end. The maths for the body length worked out too, the numbers corresponded with a larger size, so I only needed to count properly.
It’s a straightforward knit and I found it enjoyable to work with the worsted weight after months of projects in fingering/sock weight yarns. I finished it last week, wove in the ends, and even found some buttons that work good enough for now while I’m on the hunt for better ones. I wore it at seder first night and it made me very happy.
Since posting the finished sweater on social media Monday morning, it’s received a ton of love — a wonderful surprise. It’s a nice sweater. I’m very happy with the fit. It’s something nice and new for Pesach. But I didn’t think it was that special. I used up yarn I was frankly sick of moving around the stash bins and that I had hadn’t purchased in mind to use for me. There was also one specific detail about it I desperately wanted to change, until a good friend‘s chance comment made me pause and come to terms with the colour.
Doesn’t it look like a science officer’s uniform? What Dave didn’t know when he made the comment is I knitted much of it to TNG & DS9.
Transverse Cardigan
by Ann Weaver
from Interweave Knits, Spring 2010
May we all continue to live long and prosper my friends. חג כשר שמח ושבת שלום!