After finishing my first sweater for Luvinthemommyhood's KAL, I quickly cast on for a second sweater. And that was the last thing that was quick about the sweater! It is in fingering weight and it is a cardi, which means purl rows...and I am not very fast on purl rows.
It took me an entire month, though I suppose that's not accurate as I did knit a few other items in that time period. The pattern, the Abigail Cardi, calls for reverse stockinette, which is a stitch I do not love...mostly because it shows every flaw under the sun as far as I'm concerned.
I planned to keep the stockinette as the right side but then foolishly forgot to reverse the collar...so it flips and curls the wrong way. The result is a sweater that is half inside out no matter which way I wear it--because to wear it with the reverse stockinette outwards reveals the seams; to wear it stockinette side out reveals a collar that won't lay flat. But rather than look at it in defeat, I am going to settle with calling it quirky and deconstructed. Yep. Maybe someday I'll rip out the collar and fix it. But for now, I am calling it done and am moving onto to something chunkier and knit in the round. Well, until I remember the drape you achieve when knitting in a fine gauge and then I'll probably cast on again with more sock yarn. It's a vicious cycle.
My Ravelry notes are here. I used Madelinetosh Sock in the Milk colorway and love the yarn--it is next-to-the-skin heaven. My only mod was to add a couple of more decreases in the sleeves, lengthening them just so, and adding about an inch of 4 x 1 ribbing as a collar edge...a last ditch effort to get the collar to lay flat if I wore the sweater with the stockinette side showing as planned. It did not work one bit. But at least I like the look of the edging. And although it may not sound like it as I prattle on, I actually like my new cardi, too, and think it will be a wardrobe staple. I just need to learn to love the obvious tension problems revealed by the reverse stockinette!
I did not have time to take proper shots so these self-portraits in the mirror will have to do.
Sandra