Because I promised to give an update on the remake of the sweater I unraveled a couple of months ago, I took some photos of the new cardigan in the making. After much searching, swatching, deciding and blithering, I finally chose to reknit the reuseable yarn into a cardigan. Then I searched, swatched, and blithered some more and decided that the minimalist cardigan from Interweave Knits Fall 2007 was what I really wanted.
Then I had to make sure my gauge was a good match. Check. After that, I had to decide what size to knit. There is a big jump in inches between the sizes and I fall right smack dab in the middle between two. Isn't that always the way it is? Nothing ever really fits exactly. Fortunately I had been browsing through Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English and read that moss stitch, which is the main stitch used in the minimalist cardi, tends to stretch sideways after blocking. Aha! I chose the smaller of the sizes in the pattern. I sure hope Maggie is right.
The back is finished and I'm up to the armholes on the left and right fronts. Being me, of course I had to change something in the pattern. After I had knitted a few inches of the front, I realized that the center edging of stockinette looked horrible. That over all stockinette stitch in the original sweater was one of the features I disliked about it; the yarn lost all its springy beauty in that stitch. So I pulled it out and switched the front to all moss stitch. This change may result in a wider front but I'm ok with that. And it's even more minimalist because the whole sweater is worked in the same stitch.
I think I'm going to love this sweater! My elbow has asked me to take a short break from knitting. The tendons are complaining about the quick knits I made for my niece's baby. Usually I just ignore my elbow's complaints and keep on knitting, but this time the protestations are louder and longer. So I'll humor the ligaments, tendons and muscles for a few days. But I'm looking forward to wearing the finished Repurposed Minimalist Cardi!
