living in the woods and making stuff

Here is another orange sweater. I just can’t help making them. I found the pattern for this in an old magazine that someone gave to my mom. It turns out that the someone is a friend of mine and she made the sweater and wore it out!

The sweater is made up of three cable patterns and double moss stitch. The first pattern is a fisherman’s cable, the second is called blackberry stitch (looks like little popcorns to me) and the third is called antler.  I made a test swatch for all three patterns along with my gauge to get to know the stitches before I started the project. I also washed and blocked the gauge, which is super important. A tip from my friend Jeanne McCanless!

The sweater is pretty straightforward. No shaping on the body, which I like, and simple set in sleeves. Usually I need to sew my sleeves in a few times, but these sleeves went right in on the first try.

As I was knitting the sweater I became worried that it wouldn’t fit. Instead of waiting to sew all the parts together, I washed and blocked the whole thing minus on sleeve. The result was that I couldn’t exactly figure out where the second sleeve needed to be finished to match up with the first…and I think that I knit the sleeve cap four times…

I used Cascade 220, a relatively inexpensive yarn, and am really happy with the results. I was planning on making it in the traditional cream, but when this orange yarn came in I couldn’t help it…My sweater cost $42.37 including tax, which to me is a pretty good price for a wool sweater! (Minus the time…) I am looking forward to see how the yarn holds up to lots of wear. I have a feeling that it will wear really well.

I found some bone buttons at the store. I am a little bit bummed as there were only six of them and I needed seven. I am going to look for a seventh, and until then I will leave the top button open at all times. The button band was sewn on after, and I think that I could have made it a little bit tighter and the buttons wouldn’t have pulled as much. I might go in and redo this part later….