I’ve been plugging away on the striped cardigan and now have the sleeves done and am up to the waist shaping of the body.

Modification 4 (after size, waist shaping, and yarn):
There was a little something that bothered me in the photo of the sweater on Purl Bee, and after finally getting to the body of the sweater and thoroughly reading *ahem* the pattern for that part, I discovered that there’s ribbing at the front edge, in addition to the ribbed edging that is knit on at the end. It adds this blurriness to the stripes that I’m not fond of, so I’ve left it off. So far so good. I’m still not sure about the striped and ribbed edging, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Karen asked about knitting this cardigan in the round, adding a steek, and cutting it down the front and believe me, the thought crossed my mind, but I don’t think even the tightest machine sewing in the world could contain Kidsilk Haze. I even thought, for a mere moment, about weaving in the ends of the Kidsilk at the beginning and end of each brown row in order to knit it in the round, but bah. Flat it is. And it’s fine, even with the *knit 2 rows, purl 2 rows* striping bit. It’s fine.

Please excuse the possibly awful photos. I got a new camera and am quite excited. Things can only get better from here on out. :)

The Treeline Striped Cardigan pattern calls for Manos del Uruguay and Rowan Kidsilk Haze held together, but since I had the Araucania Nature Wool already and a soft single isn’t that great of an idea for use in a sweater that I’m going to be wearing, rough beast that I am, the Nature Wool won out. A few skeins of Kidsilk Haze in Villain (eBayed) and I was in business.

This yarn combination adds up to much more than I ever imagined it would. The weight of the sturdy wool fabric can be felt hiding under this mist of slippery soft mohair and silk, but can’t quite be touched. I am IN LOVE. Last night, after I got the sleeve done up to about the elbow, I tried it on and petted it until Mr. HelloYarn had stared at me so long that I started to get embarrassed. This is, by far, the softest sweater I’ve ever knit. What a treat!

My bewbs are a bit bigger than the M/L could stretch to cover, and my gauge is 4.5 sts. per inch instead of 4, so there’s been a little bit of math, but things are progressing nicely. There will be waist shaping calculation, too, when I get there, but nothing complicated.

Too bad it’s bound to be warm out by the time I get this done, even if I crank it out in a week!

Have you seen it? So cool! The deal is, it’s an attempt to illustrate Barbara Walker’s stitch pattern treasuries with full color photos in a searchable database. If you have the books and want a better view and maybe a little opinion on a certain stitch, you can look it up online. People have to knit all the swatches and take the photos, so if you think it sounds great, go join up!

I donated a swatch of Chain Link Cables from The Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

Left to Right: Left Wave Chain, Right Cross Chain, Left Cross Chain, Right Wave Chain
Yarn: Cascade 220
Wraps Per Inch: 14 wpi
Needles: Size 7 US (4.5 mm)
Gauge: 5.25 sts. per inch in stockinette
Pattern: 9 stitch cable crossed every 8th row
Stitch Count Repeat: Multiple of 9 stitches
Book: A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Page:213
Difficult Techniques: Requires 2 cable needles.

It’s the one I used in Mr. HelloYarn’s gansey and my favorite cable EVER.