Stripes on the needles

Would you like to see what I’ve been working on? This is one of those projects that I’ve been attending to in the tiniest of dribs and drabs. I’ll knit a row here, and then I’ll knit a row there. Some days I’ll get all ambitious and knit two rows.

Yeah, it’s like that.

While I generally like to save blogging my projects for the Big Reveal, at this rate that could be months away. This summer has seen me working on things that are difficult to show-and-tell (techy, behind-the-scenes, boring to everyone-but-me kind of things) and so if I don’t share my crafts as they are in-progress, it will be a long time before I show you anything!

And we just can’t have that, can we?

This is what I am currently calling my Stripey Sweater, although that name is subject to change.

It’s improvised from my Everyday Cardigan pattern, in that it uses the same stitch counts and basic measurements from the body of that pattern, but then goes off in its own direction.

For one thing, I’ve replaced the seed stitch neckline with a ribbed one.

And the ribbing at the yoke is gone, having been replaced by stripes.

I plan to keep the ribbing at the sleeve cuffs and the bottom edge of the sweater (when I get there) but I will do it in the contrast color and make it about an inch longer.

In the Everyday Cardigan, the button band is worked along with the rest of the body. I’ve eliminated that this time, and will work the band separately. I haven’t decided if I will pick up stitches along the edges to knit the band, or if I will try crocheting it. Given how much I hate picking up stitches, crocheting sounds like a preferable option. We’ll see.

Look at this yarn – so many interesting colors in it! From afar it all just pretty much looks like a gray sweater with black stripes, but the dark color is actually kind of purple, and both colors have all of these strands of pink and green and such in there.

It’s Cascade 220, my go-to sweater yarn. (Colors 7806 and 4006) Purples aren’t usually my colors, but I really can’t justify another green sweater until I’ve expanded my horizons a little bit with something new.

I’ve got a few more inches to go in the body now, and I’m actually motivated to pick up the pace a little bit: my only #7 circular needle is tied up in this sweater and I need it to swatch for another project I want to start… I have a lovely natural gray/brown alpaca blend I got at Rhinebeck last year, and I’d like to use it on a sweater to wear to the festival this year.