February in September

It was finally cool enough to wear my recently finished February Lady Cardigan. Great pattern + great yarn = FAB-U-LOUS!

I purchased the yarn at Knitch in Atlanta at Stitches South 2009. Liana and Martha, my traveling companions for the weekend, wouldn't let me buy any more green yarn, so I chose a heathered lavender. I was a little aprehensive about the color (it's a lot of lavender) but now that's it's finished, I really like it.

The yarn: Stonehenge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool. This yarn is wonderful on several levels. First of all, it's a USA product designed and spun in East Jordan, Michigan. The yarn is wonderfully soft--100% Merino wool. Not a bit scratchy when worn next to the skin--very soft and squishy. It's also extremely affordable at about $10-11 per 250-yard skein. The yarn is very smooth and gives great stitch definition.

The pattern: February Lady Sweater by Flint Knits. It's knit from the top down with raglan sleeves. The lace pattern is pretty easy to remember after you get a few rows into it. The only tough part is calculating the eyelet increases, but someone much more "mathy" than myself worked up this awesome calculator. Way too cool! The only thing I'm not particularly happy with is the bind off. It's just too tight. I went up two needle sizes, but it's not as flexible as the garter edge. It bugs me, so I'm going to pull it out and redo. I may use a sewn bind off. I used a Channel Island cast on to add a little interest. However, it's a pretty stretchy cast-on so I ran a row of single crochet along the back of the neck for stabilization.

If you're contemplating knitting the sweater, I suggest you cast on right now! You'll love it!