My first hand knit sweater: Snoqualmie by Michele Wang

It's been a couple weeks since I've written a post... and the whole world has changed. It's pretty rare that anything other than being very busy will affect my desire to sew, but when the world started turning upside down, all I wanted to do was knit and watch Next in Fashion. 

Also contributing to my knitting binge was the sudden cancellation of the family ski trip I had been planning for months. It was looking like a go, I had even talked to people at the ski lodge to book lessons and they had been sure they would be open... and then everything very suddenly shut down. Therefore, lots of time to knit. 

So, I finished my first ever sweater! You can also find me on Ravelry here for all the knitty details.

This is the Snoqualmie by Michele Wang for Brooklyn Tweed. Quite honestly I never would have considered such a project if it wasn't for Heather Lou's Snoqualmie knit along. I thought cables would be really difficult and I'm not a great knitter, but Heather is very convincing. Of course the sew along was from 2016 but it stuck in my head and when I was looking for a new project this summer, I decided to go for it.

I cast on this summer during our annual camping trip to Cape Cod last July. I very unimaginatively chose to use the exact yarn and colorway that the sample was made in. The sample just looks so perfect to me that I couldn't conceive of another variation.

I loved working with Brooklyn Tweed's Quarry. I looked long and hard for a substitute, but I couldn't find anything like it, anywhere. I also was influenced by comments on how the lightness of the yarn was key to keeping the oversize cable design from being too heavy. So I just relented and got Quarry, direct from Brooklyn Tweed. It is not like any other yarn I've worked with and I love the rustic quality and the light squishyness of it. It has a wooly feel and isn't super soft like some other yarns, but is surprisingly non-scratchy. I read all of the complaints about how easily it breaks, but I'm not a tight knitter and I hand wound all of my balls so I didn't have any of those problems.

I really enjoyed cabling. I used a cable needle for most of this sweater, although there was a point where I lost the cable needle and I had to try cabling without a cable needle for awhile, and that was okay. However I preferred working with the cable needle so I got another one. One of the things I love about cabling is that the sweater becomes very visual, and I could tell right away if I made a mistake or lost count. One thing that has driven me sort of nuts with top down knits is keeping track of all the stitches, and I hate counting! I also love tonal patterns and texture, so cabling was really satisfying to my eye.

The other thing that really surprised me is that I loved knitting a sweater in pieces. Top down seems to be all the rage, but the shape of the sweater is difficult for me to conceive as I am working on it and I'm never sure whether I'm doing it right. Also at a certain point they get huge and you end up carrying around a whole sweater everywhere you bring your knitting. Then you are knitting endless rows for the body of the sweater and figuring out where you dropped that stitch is nearly impossible and that's when I tend to lose interest and stuff the project in the back of a drawer somewhere.

However, knitting the pieces gave me more manageable goals-- finish a front, YAY, etc. Also, for someone who has sewn many cardigans on a sewing machine, the pattern pieces made visual sense to me. I've read about knitters knitting all the pieces and then not wanting to sew them together, but I didn't mind that part at all, it was sort of exciting to see them all come together.

As a total newbie to this kind of knitting, I did have some setbacks. When making the back and still sort of learning the pattern, I ended up ripping rows at a time and re-knitting. I was also tricked by the instruction to knit until the armhole was a certain length-- I figured that one would measure the armhole on the curve with a tape measure, because one sometimes does this in sewing to fit a sleeve to an armhole. Apparently that was not what was meant, but I didn't figure out why it looked so strange until I went to block it and pulled out the sheet with the measurements... it seems that one was meant to measure the armhole by the length of the vertical rise. Well, why didn't they just say that? I guess real knitters understand this kind of instruction. So I ripped back and added the requisite length to the armhole, and all was well.

I also had a very difficult time making the fronts match. I finished the left front on our trip, and then set down the project for a few months, and when I came back to it during the holidays, my gauge was totally different. I knit the right front, ripped, and knit it again, and it still didn't match. So then I ripped the better part of the left front and knit that again, and it wasn't perfect, but it was much closer.

After that fiasco with the fronts, I decided to knit the sleeves at the same time on a long cable. This worked beautifully for me... sort of cumbersome, but much better for consistency. Next time I'll probably try knitting the fronts at the same time too, because apparently I'm a very inconsistent knitter.

The pattern is really thoughtful, I enjoyed following it. I really appreciated the glossary of terms and descriptions of how to do specific techniques. The tubular cast on is gorgeous and so professional looking. This was one area where I was unable to interpret the pattern instructions, but this video by Very Pink was super helpful. I also thought the selvage edge and the instructions on casting off for cables to be very helpful in providing a nice finish. I loved the buttonhole instructions, very cool. The one thing I didn't totally love was the way the collar is attached such that the join is visible on the inside when you wear the cardigan open. I guess the idea is that it is a buttoned cardigan and that edge is supposed to be on the inside. I actually have been looking at the Rowe by Michele Wang and the collar on that one is knit double width, folded, and stitched down to hide the seam. However with a bulky yarn like Quarry that wouldn't work so well, so perhaps this is the best solution afterall.

The wooden buttons are from Etsy, Supplies and Sundries in Iowa, they came super fast and they were perfect.

The fit is quite roomy! It isn't meant to be a fitted sweater, and I was totally going for the idea of a big, cozy, easy fit. Therefore I love it! I do worry that it will stretch out over time though... and since I'm such a loose knitter, I feel that there is rather a lot of danger of that. If I was to make this again, I might size down one size.

I am super stoked to have finished this in less than a year, and in time to wear it on chilly spring mornings. I'm wearing it now!

Stay well everyone!

Upcycled Cashmere Seamwork Oslo Cardigan

One of the great joys of winter is cuddling up in cozy sweaters! 

When the Oslo, from Seamwork Magazine, first appeared, I wasn't convinced. I generally don't go for the grandpa-cardigan look. But as the chill of winter started to sink in, an oversized cardigan sounded really good!

In a particularly amazing thrift store run, I came up with three black cashmere cardigans. None were really wearable... one had some holes in random spots, another was quite felted. But after a good steaming in the dryer (which I'm really, really hoping does a number on any remaining unwanted fauna), I deconstructed them and managed to piece together most of the pieces of the Oslo. In the picture below, you can see some of the extra seaming. Mostly, I think it looks acceptably intentional. The seams are just a bit more puckery than I would like, but the best I could do under the circumstances. This was all pre-serger (I made this in December), so I seamed together pieces with my sewing machine, using the walking foot to help minimize stretching. I then did a faux-coverstitch by zig-zagging over the seams with a very wide zig zag stitch.

I had to resort to another piece of wool in my stash to do the outside collar, but the rest of the sweater is 100% cashmere. I cut the cuffs and the inside collar (the cozy part against the neck) out of the fluffy felted black sweater. That is by far my favorite part of this sweater... I just love those fluffy cashmere cuffs and collar against my neck and wrists.

This still is not the world's most flattering sweater, but it is soooooo cozy!

I'm a tiny bit foggy on the details, but I believe I sewed a Medium, even though I'm technically a large (40 inch bust). This was based on the experiences of other bloggers... I wanted comfy, but not humongous! I also slightly reduced the width of the collar, due to the width of the sweaters I was using. 

This is a very fabric-hungry design... I have only tiny scraps left over. Definitely a decadent project to do in cashmere.

I actually really did want to do the button closure, but after a quick test on a sample, it was totally clear that buttonholes through this stretchy, thick fabric just weren't going to happen. Bound buttonholes would be lovely, but too much of an investment of time, too late in the process! So perhaps I'll seek some sew-on snaps or something... or maybe magnet closures? Ideas anyone? 

The other thing about black cashmere-- it is a pilling, lint collecting mess! I am willing to overlook such minor aesthetic faux pas in favor of incredible coziness, but I admit that I mostly wear this sweater when I know I'll be spending the afternoon alone in my studio or on weekends at home.