Two things happened in April- my beloved Grammy passed away, and I finished the Switchback Sweater. When I got the news that she had passed, I decided that 1.) the sweater needed to be completed in April and 2.) that a rebranding was definitely in order. So the Betty Cardigan was born. Betty was a fierce and sassy woman with a quick wit and clever hands. She was giving and warm and suffered no fools. This sweater is like her, and is a great tribute to her. The finished cardigan is warm and inviting and makes you feel accomplished when you are wearing her. The shawl collar was a bit fussy until I got the buttons on. Once that happened, it began to behave. The pattern was very easy to follow, even when I decided that I knew better than the designer (spoiler alert- I didn’t) and had to get myself back on track. I was incredibly leery to knit an all-over colorwork sweater with only one Ravelry project. Let me repeat that, there was only One Completed Project on Ravelry. Generally, I will read all of the project notes (unless there are a bajillion completed projects) and make decisions on whether it is a well written pattern or not, before I purchase it. I will also only purchase it if there are a good amount of completed projects that vouch for the pattern. For some reason, I just jumped into this one headfirst. I am incredibly happy that the sleeves are knit first. That gave me time to adjust to the main pattern, and it is generally my least favorite thing to do. If you knit the sleeves first, once you are done with the body, you are done with the sweater. I got to steek. I mean what more is there to say. Steeking is so terrifying and efficient, I simply love it. I need to incorporate more steeking into my knitting. I followed Suzanne Bryan’s tutorials on figuring out the button band, and hot damn that woman knows her stuff! This is the very best button band/ collar I have ever knit. I don’t even mind the shawl collar. Note to self- always add a knit stitch to the bottom hem of button bands. So if the pattern calls for a k1, p1 rib, do k2, p1 for the first 3 and last 3 stitches. It helps the bottom hem not to roll under as much. I am so happy with this sweater that I have decided to leave well enough alone and not try to cut in pockets. Even though they are my most favorite thing, I don’t think they would add anything to the look of the cardigan. They may even take something away from it. The sweater is huge on me, and the sleeves are too long. This will be a great feature when I am freezing my ass off at the dreaded camping trip. There is so much amazing and wonderful about this cardigan.
I would love to lie and say that the sweater is flawless and everything went 100% to plan, but this is me we are talking about. Of course there were mistakes. I messed up the body pattern and didn’t realize it until about 3 inches up. There was no way on God’s green earth that I was going to rip back and pray that I wouldn’t loose stitches. I only did it over about 20 stitches, so I dropped them down and fixed the color pattern. This would have been an amazing fix if I hadn’t royally screwed up and twisted some stitches, had a super long leftover float, and maybe had more of the correct color yarn to work with so that the stitches weren’t so tight. I thought that it may block out, but nope, it’s front and center, right across the middle of my shoulders. I notice it 100%. Ms. H says only I notice it, so I am going with that, and will try not to fixate on it. The sleeves are too long because I decided to modify the pattern. The pattern instructs you to knit 6″ cuffs, so that you can turn them back. I didn’t wanted doubled up cuffs, so I only knit 3″ and I forgot to deduct the excess 3″ from the over all sleeve length. I also had a bit of a challenge knowing how to follow the pattern at the neck decrease. I was always supposed to begin and end with the main color, but I would forget or it would leave too big of a gap between the Moss and the Cloud. I don’t think it is noticeable at all, so I am going to ignore it. My final blunder was that I ordered really nice buttons. I found them on Etsy and ordered them right away. I waited days for them, and was so delighted when they finally showed up. I snatched them up and ran them to the cardigan to see if the color worked. The color was great! I started placing them on the button band, and had them all laid out, ready to sew on. I wanted to give them a little test with the button hole. They didn’t fit… They would in no way go through the buttonhole. Not even with a bit of force. I had ordered the wrong size buttons. This was incredibly annoying. The very nice buttons were sent to my stash for a future project, and I was sent to Joann’s. The buttons aren’t the most vintage glam, like the others, but they compliment the contrast color and they do the job. Note to self: You are not in control of the world. A 1 1/4″ button will NEVER fit into a 3/4″ buttonhole, no matter how much you want it to.
I would absolutely recommend this sweater pattern. If you are comfortable with colorwork, garment making, or you are ambitious to give them a try, this is a fantastic place to start. It looks super complicated, but the pattern is full of spoon-feeding. One of the greatest things of all time is that I only have one ball of Moss left. What started this whole journey was wanting to use up a large quantity of Wool of the Andes yarn in the color Moss, that had been in my stash for-ev-er. Now, I only have one ball left!!!! That will totally be thrown into a charity hat or something of the like. I am so excited that I accomplished my stash-down goal! Using it for color work did exactly what I had hoped it would. While I love a good green, Moss wasn’t the color for me. Pairing it with the Cloud gave it softness and depth. The Midnight Heather gives it a rich pop of color. I am glad that I didn’t go with something more feminine. The color combo gives it an old school richness. A lady of the manor library look, that I love. I showed it to the Father and he asked if it was for him. I had to kill his dream immediately. I reminded him that I offered to knit him a sweater last year and he declined. He said he wouldn’t wear a wool sweater, that it would be too hot. Well, sorry love, but you can’t have this one! I mean, I know he is directly responsible for my existence, but come on… So she is done, and she is beautiful and I love her. She brought great happiness in a time of sorrow. I am proud of myself for completing this complex project and for tackling something that I was intimidated by. Way to go, me! Thank you, Betty. You brought out the best in me, in so many ways.
Loves,
M
Mrs. Collins Makes Stuff 