Keep Calm and Kureyon

Here's a new little Easter basket you might like:

I decided to design a new project for my Elegant Entrelac class, and this is the result.  It uses two colorways of Noro Kureyon, or any worsted-weight long repeat color change yarn.  

If you're coming to my class at the Steven Be Fiberfest (Minneapolis, MN) in April, or to Bridge Knitting Guild (San Francisco, CA) in May, this is the pattern you'll receive at registration.

Can't make it to class?  NO problem!  CLICK HERE to get your copy.

Many of us still have cold weather, here in the USA, but that's no reason not to think Springtime Thoughts.  The colors of this yarn make me think of velvet-faced pansies.  And hyacinths.  And freshly-mown grass.  

And Chocolate Bunnies. 

A Tale of Four Necklines

Gentle Readers, I love knowing that I can always count on you to weigh in with an honest opinion.  After my cavalier announcement that I was going to "modernize" the neckline on the Jane Wolff Scott cardigan, some of you implored me not to fix what isn't broken.  Thank you for the reminder that the high neckline on the original is no small part of its charm.  You are right: a dramatic change to the depth of it would really alter the tone of the whole design.  Rest assured, I promise not to "scoop" anything.

That said, here is my challenge:  The back of the neckline in the original has a problem.  To wit:

Sample #1, ca. 1960:  2 x 2 back neckline ribbing stretched nearly beyond recognition  (This piece was carefully washed and re-blocked yesterday - you should have seen it before TLC).

Note also the top of the back raglan triangle shows noticeable stretching - it's not just the ribbing.

Sample #2, ca. 1965: 1 x 1 ribbing, also markedly stretched.

Sample #3: ca. 2013.  My first prototype.
 

Having noticed the neckline problem on my mom's versions, I did my best to avoid a reoccurrence.  However, the change I made in gauge for this one pretty much negated my attempts to keep the neckline relaxed.  Note that the knitting is starting to strain below the ribbing, just like in Sample 1.

So hopefully now you can see why I feel the need to address the neckline, before I give this pattern back to knitting.  I decided to add some more real estate to the back of the neckline.  A mere 5 stitches, to be exact.  

Here's Prototype 2.0 in progress.  I have yet to see for sure what happens with the neckline, but it seems better, already.  You can see that I've stopped working on the body and moved on to the sleeves here.  Unsure how my yarn yardage is going to work out, I decided to base the body length on whatever's left after the sleeves are done.  One of the magical things about this pattern is that you can make it to fit exactly the amount of yarn that you have. O the Stashbusting Glory!

And speaking of yarn, I need to tell you that this yarn has got everything in the world going for it.  So smooshy, but with a little backbone.  So robust, but with lots of air spun in to keep it light.  And the color?  The ink from a thousand love letters.  The deep, impossible azure where blue sky meets deep space.  Get yours HERE.  My sweater is about 42" at the chest, and it's going to use 2 skeins, if you're wondering.

Lickety-Split

No small part of the charm of the Jane Wolff Scott cardigan is the speed with which it is rendered.  The yarn I needed for another project was delayed by one day, so *O Bother* I was forced to play with beautiful blue for a while.  And this happened:

Can you believe that?  The yoke is almost done - I'm only a few rounds away from dividing the sleeves from the body!  The neckline looks strange here because the first and last 13 sts of every round are the knitted-on placket; the edges actually fold under at the end. 

And how about those cables?

They are really fun to make; you braid 3 sets of 2 sts (the original pattern calls it "Double Twist Cable") all on one row - super sexy.  Of course, any 6-st cable can be substituted here; my mom played fast and loose with all sorts of different cables in the many times she knit this pattern.  She even did one version with big juicy 8-st cables, which would have been an easy substitution for her by the umpty-millionth iteration.

That's one of the many delights of this pattern.  By the time you have finished it, you have a very clear idea of how it could be reversed, gauge-swapped, differently-cabled and/or placketed.  My mom's many versions were mostly governed by how much yarn she didn't have, so she altered the lengths of body and sleeves to accommodate that.  There's even one version where she saved yarn by facing the front plackets with grosgrain ribbon rather than knitted facings.  Clever Lady.

The yarn for my "real" project arrived, after all, so Bluey is going to the back burner for a bit (if I can control myself - no promises). 

Possibly the best part of this experiment is communing with my mother's knitting.  It's a little bit like being with her.  The many many hours of my life spent working by her side are so much a part of me that holding her knitting in my lap right next to my own feels a bit like old times. Thank you, Gentle Readers, for encouraging me to pursue my goal of sharing it with you.