As if it was made for me

But wait! It is made for me.

The story of this cardigan began with this yarn: Savanna by Cewec, it is lovely in skein, very silky, in a rough way, pain to knit with, very much so in the beginning before you get used to it. At first Savanna was destined to become something totally different and I actually knitted the whole cardigan, sleeves and everything with it before I realized that the gauge was too big and it was impossible to finish it neatly. I love small gauge and small needles and fairly tight outcome. I decided to step outside my comfort zone and ignore my inner voice and made a decision to knit the cardigan with the needle size suggested in the ball band and in the pattern. (There are times when I doubt my gauge choice and seriously doubt if I kill the yarn with too small needles.) Of course, loose was all wrong for me. Almost after every single row I looked at my knitting, stroked it, tried to push my finger through the stitches, sighed heavily and kept knitting until the very bitter end. The final product, like I thought from the very first cast-on stitch, was terrible. I ripped the whole thing, wondered for a while whether or not discard the yarn. But then I made another swatch, this time with smaller needle size, 3,5mm and was much happier with the outcome. I should have trusted my inner voice.

Since I had already knitted one pattern with the yarn, I wanted something different and this time something very simple, as the yarn is rough and has so much structure. Simple cardigans are really the ones I wear most. I wanted something quite fitting but not too tight. Then and there I was stuck for a bit because I did not know how much ease I should allow for the cardigan. I knew what I needed to do and logged into Amy Herzog's Custom Fit, entered my gauge, made a few design choices, and bought a custom made cardigan pattern for me and this yarn.

The pattern was knitter friendly, there were instructions to knit it in pieces or in one piece without any seams. I chose an option to knit it without seams until the armholes, made sleeves in the round, but did sew them in opposed to knitting them top down. I made couple of changes to the cardigan while making it, added few rows to the sleeves and made the neck opening little smaller than I had planned beforehand. I did not make short row shaping to the shoulders as mine are square and I really don't need them, but other than those minor changes, I followed the pattern to the row count, and everything worked out fine. I love the outcome. It truly fits around my shoulders, the sleeve heads are where they are supposed to be. The ease around the waste is just right. At first I thought that I would love little more room around the hips but now that the cardigan is blocked and finished, I am happy with the hem too.

I highly recommend Custom Fit. I am going to use it again. And again.

If you were reading carefully from the beginning, you probably noticed there a sentence where I said that finishing was very difficult with loose gauge. Even though I made the other version with smaller needles, I still struggled with neat finishing. Luckily there was another site to rescue me! Some time ago I bought Anne Hanson's Craftsy class about finishing and I logged into that and refreshed my memory there. I love that class, there is loads of information about good finishing.

There are lots of interesting classes on Craftsy, also a good one by Amy Herzog. Living up here in the middle of nowhere, Craftsy has often picked me up knitting-wise. The platform is friendly and if ever there has been a minor glitch with something and I have contacted the customer help, I have received prompt answer and very friendly service. Highly recommend this also!

While we were taking pictures of my Savanna Cardigan, we also took some pictures of the socks I finished some time ago. Ruusu was in charge of both of the photo shoots. The yarn is Rico's Superba Bamboo, there isn't any bamboo there but wool, polyamide and viscose, nonetheless, the yarn is squishy and lovely! 

Preparing for the other shoot...

"Make sure you get it right!"

"Okay, ready?"

"And shoot!"

"And done!"

Fiber has made me very happy today! Have a good week,

Wool with you,
Lene

PS. I love these shoes, they are wooden shoes by  Swedish Hasbeens.

And thank you for reading! xx