On perfection

You can stop searching, the world's most perfect sweater has been found.

It's not a February Lady Sweater.

It's not an Owls sweater.

Not even a Tea Leaves cardigan.

Nope.

Not even close.

It's the Wildflower Cardigan.

Can you believe how comfortable, how perfectly fitting, how gorgeous this turned out?

I'm so in love with this sweater I barely managed to take it off all weekend.

I didn't sleep in it, but otherwise . . .


I had many fears about this cardigan, stemming from the sizing difficulties. The gauge called for is 7st/in. In sport weight. On size 5 needles. I moved down to size 4 needles and still couldn't get it. Knitting the whole thing on size 3 needles seemed out of the question--particularly as it would mean using size 1 and 2 needles for certain portions.

So I did a little math.

Yuck.

I plugged in my gauge--6.5st/in on size 4 needles--and determined that following the directions for the smallest size (32") at that tension would result in a bust around 34.5".

But we all know the dangers--incorrect math, lying liar gauge swatches. Anything could've happened.

But apparently I'm not a total math failure, and my gauge swatches told me the truth for change. My finished sweater has a 35" bust and couldn't fit more perfectly.

(I won't bore you to death with excessive commentary about the pattern itself--we all know Alana's patterns are written perfection, nary an error or unclear instruction to be found.)

Don't I look happy? And kind of over-caffeinated?

I was also thrilled to be working, once again, with madelinetosh yarn. The pattern calls for Pashmina, but in addition to being a bit pricey, I couldn't find anyone carrying it in a color I wanted. I envisioned the sweater knit up in a gray/blue, and finally settled on Well Water, which I was able to find in Tosh Sport--and which is, coincidentally, a little more affordable. I purchased 6 skeins, and have at least 1.5 left, so I estimate that this sweater used 1200 yards (and I never mind having extra madelinetosh lying around!).

I'm now pondering the clothes in my closet, wondering if I have a spring-y dress I could wear this over for Easter.

Because with so few cool weeks left before summer creeps in, I plan to be wearing this thing as often as possible!