Sunday, September 12, 2010
A Sweater for Myself
Yesterday I started a sweater for myself, something in a neutral colour that I can wear every day--with everything.
This sweater may not end up as a pattern to sell. I just wanted a new sweater: a cardigan that I can pull on whenever it gets cool. Something to wear with jeans, but also something pretty enough to dress up with a string of amber for going out in the evening, too. A basic sweater, buttoned up the front, with a V-neckline.
The yarn I chose is one of my current favourite yarns to work with: St-Denis Nordique (100% wool, 137 m./150 yds. per 50 g. ball).
Nordique is a classic wool which retains its structure very well. So it is an excellent choice for anything with texture and needing stitch definition, like cables. I used it in "White" in the Austria Scarf, where it does double duty in highlighting the cable pattern as well as the lace panels between.
For my new sweater, I chose the colour "Soft Yellow". It's the perfect neutral, without being boring.
I had previously chosen that colour to work the shawl version of the Sahara Scarf pattern. It has now become my new favourite piece, my comfort shawl, perfect for wrapping around the shoulders as the weather grows cooler each day.
But I still wanted to knit myself a sweater, with a different stitch pattern, a different look.
I am developing the design for the sweater as I go. Although I have made a sketch of what I think I want, I expect that it will get revised as I work the cardigan. For the lower portion, I have chosen a version of the Waffle Stitch. I am liking it so much that I have decided to extend it further up the piece, rather than just as a border.
Who knows, it may take over the piece. Like so much of my designing, I often change direction as I allow the knitting itself to direct me. Often I'll begin with an idea that then becomes transformed into something entirely different by the time I am finished.
