I’ve had the Asymmetrical Cardigan done for at least a month, but I’ve totally been procrastinating about writing up all of the details. Here’s the lowdown, brace yourself for a wordy post:

Pattern: Asymmetrical Cardigan, from Knitting Nature
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, the Olive colorway

This sweater was all about the journey, man. Where journey is actually drama. It started out with the best of intentions. I had seen a beautiful finished sweater in Malabrigo on the knitalong page, and I stopped by Yarntopia the next day to buy the yarn. I ran home and armed with my calculator, I was ready to rock.

I quickly found my first error - the pattern called for a bulky yarn, and the Malabrigo was worsted weight. That’s all well and good, but I didn’t convert the bulky yardage requirements before buying yarn, and I was a skein short. Damn. Yarntopia was out of the Olive colorway, and wouldn’t get more in until the next shipment. I pressed ahead anyway, determined to find a matching skein somewhere.

It took me four skeins to find a match. Hot damn, that Malabrigo really varies in color! I ordered two skeins from the internets (Pureknits, where I didn’t see the disclaimer that the olive was darker than the photo, and ebay where the photo was all lies), one from Yarntopia (then brilliantly lost the receipt), and finally Sarah totally swept in and saved my ass. She was visiting home in Indiana, I sent her my swatch, and she hooked me up! I used the mismatched skein on the cuffs and collar, striped with the original dyelot, and it is Good Enough. I think it’s less noticeable than the right front, which has a big ass stripe across it where I joined a new skein (in the same dyelot).

On to the pattern! The pattern is… different. The body of the sweater is knit in one big piece, starting at the front ribbing, up across the shoulders, and down the back. You cast on a ton of stitches for the arms along the way and then decrease them back down when you get to the back. Lastly, you add the ribbed collar/neckband and cuffs. This construction is interesting and keeps your attention, but makes gauge modifications a bitch to compute.

Because my gauge was different from the pattern, I basically knit a larger pattern size, but kept the vertical measurements for my true size (the pattern gives inches measurements, rather than rows). This made figuring out the chart easier - the chart explicitly states where to begin and end the fronts and back, and it was difficult to figure out the method behind Norah’s madness. Also, the pattern schematic and finished bust size do not take into account the two inch buttonband, so keep an eye out for this if you’re knitting this sweater.

Modifications:

1. I added 5 inches of waist shaping.

2. I kept the underarm stitches live when casting on and binding off the arms, and did a three-needle bind off when seaming them together. Casting on was easy, I just did a provisional cast on with waste yarn. Binding off was trickier - I didn’t use short rows, I used a Kelly fudge technique that involved stopping rows early and turning the work to leave the arm stitches live. Don’t try this at home kids, this isn’t good knitting practice by any means.

Modifications that I really wish I did:

1. Change the stitch pattern. The stitch pattern is caning-inspired, and I really liked it. However, the longer you look at it, the more Star of David it becomes. This would be really easy to fix - just replace the mostly-purl row in the chart, which would produce an elongated diamond pattern. I started really wishing for this mod about halfway through the sweater.

2. Knit the buttonbands on to the sweater, rather than seaming them. The seaming? Pretty much unnecessary.

The sweater pulling out at the bottom (it doesn’t normally pull quite like that), but this is still an extremely flattering photo of the cardi. The cardigan actually fits very well, but it makes me look like a ton of bricks.

The first problem is the buttonband. It is horribly, awfully gapey. I really tugged at it and smoothed it out for the photoshoot. A smaller friend tried it on, and it gaped on her, too. The issue is the 1×1 rib in the buttonband - rib is made to stretch, and stretch it does. The sweater is pretty heavy, and needs a much more substantial buttonband to hold things together. I’m considering buying some sturdy ribbon and sewing it on for some structure.

The second issue is the asymmetrical silhouette. I was pretty excited about the asymmetrical part of the cardigan - it’s a different shape for me, and my wardrobe was psyched to be expanded. But it’s not flattering. To be frank, it makes one of the (already generously-sized) girls look massive. Eek! I’d be so much happier if it was a regular, buttonband-in-the-middle, cardigan.

Malabrigo is such nice yarn, it’s so soft and wonderful to work with. However, you don’t have to do much to get it to pill - by the time I was finished knitting the body of the sweater, the front halves had already shown evidence of the yarn’s pilly, blurry fate. I’ll definitely use Malabrigo in the future, but I’ll stick to scarves. Or hats. I seamed the cardigan with a thinner yarn, Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I know, Silky Wool is not strong at all, but I had it lying around and the color was a near-match.

This is my third pattern from Knitting Nature (see also: Target Wave Mittens, Basalt Tank). I really and truly adore that book, and my eye is definitely drawn to Norah Gaughan’s patterns these days. The Phyllo Yoked pullover is next on the list. I’m planning on knitting a shorter version of the pattern repeat so I can wear it as a short-sleeved sweater without too much see-through action.

A classy bathroom mirror shot, in our new bathroom!

I really wanted to finish something this month, so here’s the somewhat unflattering Asymmetrical Cardigan. I finished the sweater this morning, while waiting around for the appliances to show up and the movers to arrive. Details forthcoming, we just moved today and I’m beat. The moving went amazingly smoothly, although the cats were totally freaking out when they arrived at the new digs. They’re down with the place now, I can hear one of them trying to claw their way into the cupboards. Silver is going to be pissed when she finds the childproof drawers in the bathroom…

Seaming the Asymmetrical Jacket. We’ve got one buttonband and the collar down, all that remains is the second buttonband and sleeve cuffs. The second buttonband gets the buttonholes, and I’m changing the buttonhole placement from the pattern, so it requires some serious procrastination.

I tried on the sweater yesterday, and holy crap, it fits! This is somewhat shocking, because things didn’t look so hot fit-wise before the buttonband and collar were seamed on.

There have been some excellent yarn store sales in Houston this month. Last weekend I bought some Blue Sky Cotton from Twisted Yarns at a discount, and started this brioche stitch number. I’m feeling a bit Eh about the result - it’s pretty, but I’m not wild about it in this yarn. I think the yarn wants to be mistake rib. Or a Squarey - I’ve made two Squareys for friends, and I want one for me! Another LYS is having a winter sale this weekend, and I bought a bunch of the sportweight Louet merino for 35% off!

I (cough!) took a sick day from work today, which gave me plenty of time to work on the Cambridge Jacket and photograph it on a mildly pissed Silver. The progress photos for this sweater are going to be bo-ring - how many photos of a straight, semi-ribbed sweater back can one take, really?

The knitting this week has been, in a word, frustrating. Behold the completed body of the Asymmetrical Cardigan. I brilliantly knit the back of the cardigan three times. Three! I was happily knitting along at the Stitch+Bitch last week when I suddenly decided to frog the back of the sweater. I thought that my measurements were off for the back (the front has a 2 inch buttonband, so I thought the back should be wider to account for that, yadda yadda). THEN I measured the sweater. The back was not the wrong size. When I restarted it, I mistakenly began the waist shaping in the wrong spot, so I had to frog again.

I finally figured things out, and here we are. All that remains is the deep sleeve cuffs and the collar/buttonband piece. Silver thinks that the fabric is perfect to knead her claws into.

Once seamed, the sweater doesn’t look terribly different than before, but there’s double the fabric now. I did my own thing when the pattern called to cast on and bind off for the tops and bottoms of the sleeves - I left those stitches as live stitches so that I could do a three-needle bind-off for the sleeve seam. I think that turned out much neater than me trying to mattress stitch the seam together. Also, I seamed the sweater with a thinner yarn - Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. Not the strongest stuff around, but the color was a near-perfect match.

I tried it on, and I think that it’s going to be a touch small, even after all of my measuring and frogging. It’s a bit hard to tell without the buttonband, but hopefully I can block things out to kelly size!

I can already tell how fabulously the Malabrigo is going to stand up to wear:

The left half is the back ribbing, and the right side is the front ribbing. I started the sweater with the front ribbing, and just finished up the back ribbing last night. You can tell that the right side is already getting fuzzy and the stitch definition is blurred. I better warm up my sweater shaver for this one. Also, you can see how the back is shifted by half a vertical pattern repeat from the front. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if I was knitting in with the heavier-weight yarn called for by the pattern, but hopefully it’s not too noticeable when worn.

Here’s another Norah Gaughan design, from the new Vogue Knitting magazine. Beautiful! I adore the cables and pentagons and modular construction, and would love to make a longer version without the crazy collar. Kate at Knit Lit has started one of these, and I’ll be eagerly watching to see how hers comes out.

Ugh! Returning to the working world this week has been so difficult! I enjoyed my nice, long vacation and travel, and going back to the daily grind has been dragging me down. I’ve already checked to see when my next vacation day is (April 6th, fyi). I think it’s time for a new source of the big bucks around here…

In knitting news, there’s so many things that I want to make, but I’m trying to stay faithful to my two large items in progress. Sarcelle is definitely in her ugly phase. Avert your eyes, unblocked lace ahead!

Oh, the horror!

The color is almost accurate in the right photo. I’ve completed 38 inches of the knit-straight section (I was at 14 inches before vacation). I’m going to have to measure Madli’s Shawl to see how long it was - I was pleased with it’s final length.

Last night I cast Sarcelle to the side to work on the Asymmetrical Cardigan. I was all ready to write a big post about how I pondered and considered, but in the end I decided that I would have to rip out the lighter-colored section because it was driving me insane. Then I put on the sweater-in-progress and realized that even I (aka Anal Retentive) couldn’t tell where the color changes when the sweater is worn. So we truck onward! I’m looking forward to when the sleeves are complete - then I’ll just be knitting the back, which will go much faster!

However, the mind wanders. I’ve been thinking about starting the Anemoi mittens, and my Yarn Pirate sock yarn has been calling my name. I’ve swatched the Yarn Pirate, and hoo boy is it purty.

I leave you with the cats, in one of those rare moments when they are all on the same surface.

The Asymmetrical Cardigan grows. Slowly. I’m a touch over halfway done with it. Will it be complete by christmas? No way. By New Year’s? Probably not. It’s going so slowly and has become so massive that I may not even bring it up north for the holidays with me.

I’m a bit (read: extremely!) concerned about running out of yarn. I weighed everything last night, and I’ll have right around one skein (200ish yards) to knit the collar, buttonband, and sleeve cuffs. The sleeve cuffs are pretty long, and things are going to be tight. I received the extra skein of Malabrigo that I ordered from ebay, and it’s also a wonky color - it contains much more forest green than what I’m using. But I may have to use it for the cuffs in a pinch.

But the thing that really concerns me? That the right front is two different shades of green. I can barely look at that photo because it pains me so. There’s no way in hell I’m ripping it, though.

So, I’m looking to the future. I joined the Stranded Colorwork knitalong, and it’s all I can do to not cast on for the Anemoi Mittens. My darling Webs had a closeout on Rowan Cashsoft 4 ply recently, and I happened to have a gift certificate for the amount of 4 balls plus shipping, so the deal was sealed. It’s soft and squishy and yummy! I was originally planning on a more tonal color scheme in Koigu, but you can’t beat the price of FREE!

However, I’ve never done fair isle before. I’m thinking that I should start out with something a bit simpler and larger gauge for my first project. Enter Center Square. Remember how I was so not dying to knit anything from the most recent Knitty? All lies. I went through my stash of oddball worsted weights to see what I could use, and came up with this:

Wow, that’s a lot of red, blue, and black. You can click the photo to get all the details. I settled on two colors of (mostly) alpaca - yarn I’d probably never use up otherwise (because, hello, Houston was 79 degrees this past Sunday!). We have some teal Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk and blue Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca. Both are actually DK weight, which means I’ll have to futz with the pattern and swatch. I think that I’ll be able to get away with adding 4 extra circles around, and I’ll wind up with a hat that doesn’t streeeeetch so much around your head.

Coming up next - how hard is it to photograph a black hat? Very!

The Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature, aka The Book of Bizarro Construction. The photo shows the fronts of the cardi - what you do is knit the fronts, bottom-up, then cast on a ton of stitches for the sleeves, knit the body and sleeves together (with some shaping for your neck), bind off a ton of stitches, then knit the back. Fold the sweater along the shoulder-line, and seam. Very, very soon this sweater will NOT be portable in any way. The patterning is pretty neato, very three-dimensional - those stitches really pop.

I’ve memorized the chart, but not before frogging back to the ribbing (before the photo was taken) because I was knitting the crosses in a way best described as willy-nilly. It was a complete mess, and not consistently so between the two fronts. Lesson learned - don’t hold a conversation and watch tv and think that I no longer need the chart. Gah. The yarn held up pretty well to the frogging, despite its delicate nature.

I’ve made a few modifications to the pattern. First off, I added a slipped slevedge stitch on both sides of each piece. The pattern calls for a selvedge stitch on the outer edges where you eventually seam the cardigan fronts to the back. However, you knit the button band (and collar) separately and seam them to the sweater, so it deserves its own ready-for-seaming edge. I’m also adding some standard waist shaping to the pattern.

I’m knitting the sweater using Malabrigo, which is very, very lightly spun. So lightly spun that my cast-on tail was literally disintegrating from the stress of being pulled out of and thrown back in my knitting bag. It was getting super fuzzy and blooming, so I finally decided to weave in the tails as I go. Hmmm, this doesn’t make me terribly confident about how the sweater will hold up to long-term wear. This makes for a sad kelp. However, the yarn does have killer yardage (216yards / 100grams), is reasonably priced for the yardage, and is beautifully dyed.

The yarn is a lighter weight than the pattern calls for. This means that I need more yardage than the pattern requires, so I’m on a quest for an additional skein that will somewhat match the yarn that I’ve already bought. Yarntopia is sold out of the olive, thanks to moi, and it’s not available elsewhere locally. This presents a bit of a challenge - the photos that you see on online retailers don’t necessarily reflect the dyelot of what you’ll eventually get. I’ve already bought a skein from Pure Knits, which has the most lightspeed shipping anywhere (I bought it Friday, shipped Saturday, arrived Monday, yeah!), but it’s a much different color so it’s going back. I think ebay may be my best bet here.

The last note on this sweater is that the Malabrigo is a different gauge than the pattern. This pattern and its bizarro construction means that recomputing for a new gauge is pretty tricky. Also, the pattern repeat starts at a different spot for different sizes, and I’m not entirely sure why. I know that the pattern lines up perfectly between the two fronts, but that still does not fully explain the chart starting and stopping points. I’m sure all will become clear when you join the two halves at the back of the neck. In any case, I’m not super eager to be futzing with those start and endpoints, so I’m simply knitting a larger size (but still following the length measurements for the original size), making some small adjustments for width below the arm shaping (it’s safe to move the left front start point and right front endpoint). Lastly, the pattern’s schematic implies that the Finished Width measurements in the pattern exclude the button band, which is 2″ wide. Something to watch out for, since I don’t want to be adding an extra 2″ of ease.

Will I finish this by the time we travel to the northeast for the holidays (T-minus 10 days)? Unlikely!