String of Pearls Vol. 2

I was just over at Knitting to Stay Sane and I tend to agree. Spring brings on  start-itis. I feel it. My IKF (Inner Knit Fairy) disapproves. She wants me to focus on my very first sweater design, The String of Pearls Cardigan, which no doubt you will eventually be completely sick of hearing about.

Designing something to knit is fascinating. My background in design has been focused on flat things. Theatrical and film sets, interiors and historical renovations involve things like wood, metal and paint. Even designing accessories like handbags does not require fitting to the human body which is, like it or not, curved and three dimensional. Maybe that’s why it’s so darn fascinating. Just can’t get enough.

So the goal was to design something fairly simple. That way, my calculations would not be de-railed by crazy stitch counts or pattern repeats. Also, I hoped my first cardigan could serve as a sort of pattern block for future sweaters so I’d have an idea of how much ease/negative ease I’d be comfortable wearing. Translation: lots of stockinette stitch. Spending Tuesday and Wednesday in the car with hubby between Ottawa and Toronto gave me a nice jump start to get the main body cast on and the first taper (hip to waist) worked. I’d done all of the initial math and had written the un-proofed pattern. Now I am working to the pattern, verifying the stitch counts and making any necessary changes as I knit.

Having worked the first few waistline decrease rows, I realized I was decreasing too quickly, creating a weird-looking compact curve at the hip that can only be described as a ‘bulge’. Frog. I re-thought the decreases, opting for a slightly less fitted waist (not a bad idea since it’s a cardigan) and decreased every other knit row instead. I’m happy. I am knitting even at the waist, just about to begin the increases for the bust.

I was a little worried about how the bottom band (knitted vertically) would marry with the front pattern rows that would become the button and buttonhole bands, but I’m pretty happy there too. Maybe I can squeeze in a few rows before work 😉