Pattern:  Favorite Cardigan by Wendy Bernard in Custom Knits Raveled Here
Yarn:  Madelinetosh Tosh Worsted – 5 skeins of colorway Bark
Needles:  Knitpicks Harmony Interchangeables US 7 (4.5mm)

Mods:   I was one of the first people to cast on this sweater but probably the slowest to blog about it.  I didn’t really make many mods except my usual Horizontal Bust Dart (short rows) adjustments.  Sadly I messed up my calculations alot with this sweater, plus the difference between knitting the body while on vacation and the sleeves after coming home.  This probably isn’t the best representation of my skills.

Facts to Remember:  At first my reluctance to blog was the above picture.  The button band ripped like no bodies business.  I ripped it out and redid it on smaller needles, sadly it still ripples so I’ve come to wearing it unbuttoned at the top and bottom.  I love it and get compliments.  I just prefer my sweaters to button all the way or not at all.  I should also be slow to praise myself and my ablity to do bust shaping with new yarn and no math calculations.  I used my usual Malabrigo Worsted bust dart formula since they have the same stitch count.  Hah the row count is so totally different that I made too deep of a bust dart.  Next time I will take my time.  The first edition of this book also has errata for the sleeve decreases which I helped a friend diagnois.  A simple reason why I don’t make a good test knitter is because I rewrite pattern instructions in my head to make them easier for me to understand.  Basically I translate into Chris knitting language from which ever knitting language I’m currently knitting from.
Things I love:  THE YARN.  I can’t stress how much I adore this yarn.  I actually love it so much that I already had this color in sock yarn and I’m tempted to get it in the pastoral base (a 50/50 silk/wool single spun worsted yarn) available through Woolgirl.com.  In addition to loving the color, I adore all the yarn dyed by Amy of Madelinetosh.  So much so that I joined the Magnolia Society yarn club and dropped all my other yarn clubs.  My love for Amy’s yarns competes with my love for Malabrigo.  The worsted was released days before I headed to Hawaii on vacation where I knit this sweater and I couldn’t wait to take it with me.  Its a super soft superwash wool that washes beautifully.  It felts up on the inside of the sweater in such a way that post blocking/washing frogging is a bit difficult, but still possible since I did it when re-doing the button band.  It also looks very thin till after its washed where it blooms to its full potential.  Someone on ravelry commented that she didn’t think this was a true worsted.  I beg to differ, it turns out nicely at a worsted gauge.  It will never stand in for an Aran, but its a beautiful worsted.

My second love was the book.  If you don’t have Custom Knits, Run.  Don’t walk to your nearest bookstore.  This is an instant classic with tons of information for the casual user and the up and coming designer.

I finished the hem of Flair on Sunday evening, since then I have stalled on the sleeve.   Flair is coming out rather slim, its going to be more cardigan than jacket so I have decided to go with the blue buttons from the post last Wednesday. I am nervous but I seem to always be nervous before I block something. Since I’m trying to figure out cardigan/jacket, I will keep at this until I get it right.

This sweater was finished and I have worn it at least twice in the last month, but I was just unhappy with it because of this:

The band was lettuce-ing and driving me nuts. So I tried to create a button band reinforcement with grosgrain ribbon. It failed miserably since the buttonholes done by the machine ripped out. So I grudgingly ripped out the buttonhole side and re-knit it with a smaller needle. I am so happy that I went and ripped out the button band too. So I need to re-knit the band. It should only take me a short while but I have yet to do it.