Phoenix sweater?

I have several sweater quantities of yarn that are meant for ME, and it’s time to get started!

To begin 2016, I wanted to use the yarn that I bought to make Sprig, knit most of, and then ripped out when it was clear the fit was horrible. That sweater was easy to rip out because I never wove any ends in (I just didn’t get that far). I rewound the yarn, washed it, and stowed it. This is Quince & Co. Lark in color “Cypress,” a rich, bright, emerald green.

After Christmas, I got the swatch back out and began planning a CustomFit sweater for me – the first one to be worked from my new, professional measurements I got at Twisted PDX last March. I wanted an open-front cardigan, kinda roomy and long, with an interesting edge treatment around the neck band. I grabbed a stitch dictionary and swatched a couple of things.

You can’t see that swatch very clearly because it’s not blocked yet and I refused to get out of bed to take a decent photo, but you get the idea. (This book was a Christmas gift from Steven many years ago – so useful!) Here is the blocked edging swatch up against the original swatch:

Next, I went to the Custom Fit website to plan my sweater. I plugged in all the numbers and pushed the button. DOH! Not enough yarn (I only had 9 skeins to begin with). I shortened the length a bit – still not enough yarn. I changed the fit to make it not so roomy – better, but not good enough. I made the sleeves 3/4 length instead of long – now I was within 40 yards but was I willing to play yarn chicken?

I had a vague memory that Custom Fit builds in a 10% cushion on yardage, so I went to Ravelry to confirm. I never found that number, but I did find a post that was about 16 months old that said the calculator didn’t include yardage for “trims,” which includes the neck edging. I inquired and that has since been fixed, but I was spooked.

As a last ditch attempt to make the envisioned sweater out of this yarn, I contacted A Verb for Keeping Warm, where I had purchased the yarn in March 2014. I wanted 3 more skeins in the same dye lot. And you know what? They had exactly 3 skeins left in that dye lot. They made me a PalPal order and I paid it, and a few days later the yarn was in my hands. I rebuilt the pattern with my original parameters, bought it, and cast on!

I’m working my way up the back. Because this is longer, there are a lot of decreases for waist shaping. There is a section where I decrease every fourth row, twelve times. I tried a new-to-me technique for keeping track of those counts. Those little lines are just scrap yarn that I moved to the front of the work, then worked a stitch, and then moved to the back. It will pull out when I’m ready. I like it!

Here’s what I have so far. Stay tuned to see if I like this sweater better than what’s come before.

I’ve got to shift my projects so that I can wear my finished objects right away in the season for which they were meant. I’m not sure I’ll have this done in time to wear this year. Plus, Boy 1 wants mittens!