Follow Up:I just can’t wear this. The pattern isn’t what I thought it was & it just doesn’t fit right. I really love the yarn combo & will be reusing it in another cardigan.

Ok so I picked out this beautiful yarn at A Knitted Peace after Dev and I stopped at Reinke Brothers. I don’t remember what the girl’s name is that works there, she has dyed hair and lots of tatoos, and she is super awesome. I always really like talking to her when I go in there. Anyways, she said the Silky Alpaca Lace was one of her favorite lace weight yarns. It’s so shiny and a BEAUTIFUL color! I only bought one ball because I was returning the last unused Bonsai yarn from my stupid-ruffled-I-hate-you-so-i’m-not-finishing-you cardigan. That I didn’t know if it would work out how I wanted it to so I will do some swatching and see what happens.

1/20 - Cast on with a size 5 needle and the stitches came out pretty dense, you couldn’t see through the fabric. But the gauge calls for 23 stitches per 4” and I was at 28. I swatched again on the called for size 7’s and it was spot on for gauge. So size 7 it is! I am a little iffy on the way the fabric looks but this is probably one of those things I need to knit a little ways into it before I can really tell how it will turn out with drape and fabric weight, etc. I’ll re-evaluate once I get down to the sleeve area and see if I really like it. One of the inspirations for this project, along with the GORGEOUS cardigan from this pattern, I’ve been doing some online window shopping and saving pictures of sweaters and knitwear I like. I’d like something like the grey sweater on the left in the pictures but the fabric this is producing may not work out so much. But the construction seems to be similar.

2/25 - I originally cast on for this cardigan just using the Classic Elite lace yarn. I LOVE this yarn. It just wasn’t turning out the way I wanted it to. The fabric was too open and it didn’t feel right or have enough drape. I probably knit down a few inches before deciding to rip it out. So I did and added the Fino (held double) and it is BEAUTIFUL! With two yarns it looks kind of heathered and the alpaca adds some halo and softness while the silk adds drape and shine. It is absolutely wonderful.

3/1 - I somehow got off on the raglan increases around increase 15 or so. So, ONCE AGAIN, I ripped it out, all the way back to the 5th row to start over. I’m glad I did. It wasn’t looking right and I don’t want to have one arm look stupid. I’m done making stupid stuff I don’t like to wear. I’ve made an important knitting decision, also timed to be a New Year’s resolution, to not waste my time or money on things I don’t like. I mean REALLY really like. So I ripped out quite a few projects that were laying around and am on a mission to finish up what’s left. And that’s why I am being a perfectionist again (I was getting lazy there for a while).

3/8 - Back to increase 20! Almost to the spot where I separate out the sleeves. I also wanted to check out what some of the other projects people have done to really see what I’m getting myself into and so far so good. I see a lot of WIPs and that’s ok. I do think after looking at some pictures that I want to keep the sleeves very short, like cap sleeves. Either that or make them longer, like 3/4 length. I don’t like the regular short sleeve length like on a t-shirt sleeves. Not in general, just on me. They make my arms look stupid. I’m also seeing the collar in my “I like this cardigan better” picture is different than in the pattern. But that’s ok because it looks like something I can pick up and knit on later (like the Rocky Mountains Cardigan I did).

3/13 - And as I read on through the pattern you do pick up and knit a border and collar. Anyways, I have knitted about 6” down past the sleeves! I am making really good progress on this! It’s the only project I’ve been working on and I’m really excited to get it finished and wear it. The front increases are nice. I’m doing one stitch in between mirrored increases as opposed to the knit front & back suggested in the pattern. It looks really pretty and feels incredible. I’ve been pondering the length and sleeves, especially since that last post. I’m thinking 3/4 length because I really like how warm and fuzzy this feels. I’m thinking this is going to be warmer fabric than for something short sleeved. We’ll see as it progresses! I also picked up another ball of the Classic Elite Silky Alpaca lace over the weekend because I am almost to the end of the first ball!

5/24 - Yay! I finished the body. Knitted the last few rows of garter stitch. I also picked up stitches under the arms, moved the held stitches to DPNs & am starting in on the first sleeve. I need to do a test try on soon because this is always the part where I have problems with fit. I also need to note that I did not make this as long as the pattern calls for. I have a couple nice airy, drapey, asymmetrical cardigans like this already & I used my favorite one as a guide for length. I also only knit 4 rows in between each increase instead of 6. The shape still looks the same (it goes down to a point at the lowest part of the front) it just only goes down to the lowest part of my hips/top of my thigh.

5/28 - I got a compliment already!!! I took it into Colorful Yarns when I picked up the second ball of MTL for my hoodie. She said it was “SOOOO soft!” Yes it is. It’s like heaven air, light & soft & fluffy! Yeah. Anyways, that was the boost I needed to finish these damn sleeves - PROCRASTINATOR. I’ve decided I will do cap sleeves. I like where they are on the model, no longer than that. I also may leave the extra stitches I picked up because I have thick upper arms. I used to swim & lift a lot of weights so I have more muscle mass for my body size than the average woman. Everytime, seriously every time, I have to increase the shoulder width & the armhole size because the pattern smaller sizes cut off the circulation in my arms. Time to try it on!!!

8/15 - After a slight detour on other projects I decided it needed to be finished. There was minimal work left. I had already done a few rows on the first sleeve so I finished those up. I decided to go a size up on the sleeves & used 72 stitches. I tried it on & it fit just fine but when I finished the second sleeve it felt a little loose. I think the width between the sleeves in the back is a little bit more than I’d like so having loose sleeves allows it to sag between my shoulders in the back. I wore it for a few hours & would like to play around with the fit a little more but I may wait & wear it longer so I can see how much it will grow. The only other thing that bugged me is that it doesn’t come around together in the front. I kept pulling at it to cover myself up more but it just pulled the sleeves farther out of place. Also, looking at the bottom picture on the left of my ideal cardigan, I may want to add some kind of collar & edging to fix that too. Overall, beautiful fabric & a lovely color! With a few tweaks to the fit it should turn out to be wonderful. :)