Make A Wish

My Desert Island exercise is progressing.  Here's the back, about 2" shy of the beginning of the armhole shaping.  

As I've worked, I've been making a wish list of design elements I want to include.  Some of them conflict, some cancel each other out, and some, I have discovered are impossible, due to holes in my knowledge base.  Here's the list (as of this moment, and in no particular order):

Cables and lace together
Easily memorized pattern=fun to knit
Wide ribbing bands
Cables that flow all the way into the ribbing (ala Kathy Zimmerman, Crown Princess of Cohesive Cables)
Tubular or other sexy cast on, with matching bind off
Cabled button placket, with buttons centered on each cable
Symmetrically opposed cable twists throughout
Square neckline
Gathered sleeve caps
Cables that match at shoulders
Shoulder straps
Heavily textured sleeves
Plain stockinette sleeves

As you can see, there are enough checks and balances here to establish a government.  Some things I'm going to have to let go of, and others I'm going to have to stand on my head to achieve.

The first compromise was the cast on.  I've been telling myself for years that I have a pretty good knowledge of different cast ons.  But it turns out that I really just have a couple of fun party tricks that I rely on heavily.  Case in point: I always use a tubular cast on and matching bind off for 1x1 rib.  It's so pretty, and so stretchy and perfect.  But in order to make my cables flow from the rib into the design, I had to place them precisely within the rib, ruining the tubular cast on.  There are 7 sts between each cable, and a 1x1 cast on relies on even numbers.  So I reluctantly settled on a boring old cable cast on, which I just know is not the best I could have done. I looked through all my reference books to see if there was a better option, only to find that I really don't have a cast on/bind off book in my collection.  Yet.  I ordered THIS ONE in hopes of expanding my repertoire.  I've promised myself that if I learn a better way before beginning the fronts, I'll do them differently, and not let it bother me that it won't match.  Because I can totally handle that.  Probably.

Now you tell me:  What dreamy design elements are in YOUR Desert Island sweater?  Do you know how to execute them?

Process Knitting

This is the winning swatch. I surprised myself by liking the width of the openwork panels; for some reason I had expected to prefer something narrower than the cables, but there you have it: there is no accounting for taste, especially my own.  I was so happy with it that I actually washed and blocked it.  Can you see the halo?  Peace Fleece is 70% wool and 30% mohair, which is a delicious combination of crunchy and fluffy.  Love. It.

I spent more of yesterday trying to remember how to execute a Channel Islands cast on than I care to admit.  Even the videos online baffled me.  I finally returned to my old friend THIS BOOK, in which I was properly sorted.  Turns out there's a YO between the bumps. Duh.  And then I decided the whole lower edge treatment was not working.  Frogged the 7th version of 149 sts.  I'm not out of ideas yet, though.  What's 149 sts to a maniac like me, anyway?  I'm starting over.  Could it be that I'm finally becoming a process knitter?  Sure. And fluffy white sheep are gonna fly outta my butt, too.

 

Getting Marooned

I've had this in my stash for literally, years, and my original idea for it hasn't changed:  A Desert Island Sweater.  
 

It's my favorite color in the whole world.  In fact, I always say that Periwinkle is my Desert Island color (as in, what color would I take with me if I were marooned on a desert island?).  So it seems only logical to expand the exercise:  What sweater would I take with me if I could only have one?  Thank God, there will never be an actual situation that calls for such an unreasonable degree of restraint, but the idea of answering the question appeals to me.

First of all, it would need to be a cardigan; pullovers are just too limiting in terms of combinations with other clothing, and temperature regulation.  Also there MUST BE BUTTONS, or else, why would I be knitting in the first place?

It's already my favorite color, my favorite fiber (wool), and my favorite weight (sport).  I might love it a Teensy Tiny bit more if it were 3-ply instead of 2, but hey, you can't have everything.  Besides, the 2-ply structure suggests something to me:

Combined cables and lace!  What could be a better compliment to a beautiful color than a super-sexy surface texture?  2-Ply is well-loved for lace because of the way its structure holds open the holes.  I think of cables and lace together as opposites who attract; cables pull in and lace opens up.  Cold marmalade on hot toast.  Yeah, Baby.

Now, there are about a million beautiful cardigan patterns already in this world that combine all these attributes, so why would I want to reinvent the wheel?  Because I'm Squirrely that way.  Why take someone else's work and change it to suit me when I can create something that's (sort of) brand new?  And besides, I'm not allowed the self-indulgence of knitting other people's designs, because my boss is really mean.  But hey, at least she lets me have yarn.

Now it's your turn to tell us:  What's your Desert Island Sweater?