Foreverweight .. I mean, Featherweight Cardigan

It took thousands of stitches in lace weight yarn, but it was worth it.  Listen to me, I'm being so dramatic.  A quick look at my Ravelry page shows me it only took about two months of working, off and on.   I'm spoiled to rapid tv knitting that gives me a sweater in two weeks.  Since this one took so long to make, you'll have to stomach many, many sweater photos.

So, Featherweight, by Hannah Fettig,  is my second sweater for the Summer Sweater Knitalong 2014 and my first entry for The Classic "Must Knit" Knitalong.  I'm a full fledged member of the Featherweight Club now.  6743 of these have been made and logged into Ravelry.  No telling how many more are floating around out there.  It is easily one of the most knitted patterns I've ever queued up.   But I've always hesitated to knit it because I wanted to lengthen the body and sleeves and knew that would take some time to work up.

I've already posted about my color inspiration, a painting inspired by the colors on the side of VHS tapes of the 80's and 90s.  I had such a big stack of those - collections of random 120 Minutes and Comic Strip episodes, along with every episode of China Beach.  Ah, nostalgia.

So I found just the colors I needed in Jaggerspun Zephyr (curry and jade) and Madtosh Lace (shire).   I balled each skein up, making my arm muscles totally ripped, and toted around 3000 yards of lace weight yarn for two months.

I used a size US 2.5 circular needle for a gauge of 6 sts/ 8 rows per inch, working the sleeves with magic loop.  I made the size 35.25" but expected it to block out to 36.5" or so.  I worked 20 rows per color until the bottom, where I worked 20 rows of the blue, then 20 more rows of blue ribbing on both body and sleeves.

(Like my necklace?  It's from Stephanie of Native Clutter.)

I did the recommended sleeve decreases, then worked the sleeves straight to be full length.  I had originally added more decreases but didn't like the look of them and reknit them.  They appear more fitted in the upper arm than they actually are.  The lace yarn has a clingy look but feels wonderfully stretchy and comfortable.  I love the length on these sleeves, too.  I blocked my sleeves and body out for width, not length, so I intentionally knit these longer than wrist length.

Oh, man!  I cannot tell you how good it felt to stick this in the tub and then block it.  It was a major sense of accomplishment.  Plus, I can go back to worsted weight stuff, which is the new bulky for me.

(on my instagram)

My only mods were to do stripes and lengthen the cardigan.  The pattern is pretty much perfect.  I know I moaned quite a bit about lace weight sleeves on magic loop, but I'm so glad I did.  Had this been knit in fingering weight, it would have gone faster, not only because the yarn is thicker, but also because it's easier to knit and read with heavier yarn.  Even so, I did get to a point where I could read The Well of Ascension and watch The Returned while working on this.

Okay, so I've made two Hannah Fettig designs.  I'm a real knitter now!!  I think she's undeniably the master of loose and flowy cardigans.  But there are other designs I love just as well, like Aproned Tank, Flugel, Bayside, Willard Fair Isle Pullover, and Lightweight Pullover.  So much goodness.

(more on my ravelry, kollabora, flickr, and instagram)

So, yeah, I love it.  The lace is lightweight and stretchy like the perfect leggings.  The length will work great with any skinny legged thing I put on, and the colors are so, so great.  I only pray I don't immediately snag it on a drawer pull or a cat or something.

Other posts on my Featherweight Cardigan: color combo, sleeve separation, more progress, and procrastinating.

Procrastinator's Greatest Hits

Remember Theo Huxtable's sleeve?  The long one on the shirt Denise sewed for him that didn't in any way match the other sleeve?  Well, my Featherweight has Theo sleeves.  They just seem to go on and on and on.

(more on ravelry, kollabora, and flickr)

I've actually finished them and even though the gauge is consistent with what works perfectly for the top of the sweater, these sleeves seem to shrivel up and cling to themselves.  I blocked one sleeve out to a nice normal gauge that matches the body, then I slid my arms into it and it grabbed me like a vice, stretching out in a static cling implosion.

I continue on with the 3.5" inches of stockinette for the collar/ front bands.  I'm trying not to think about how I know I'll have to undo each sleeve halfway and eliminate the extra decreases I added because I was extending them to full length.  I try to focus and finish, but I find my mind wandering.  Want to wander to nowhere meaningful with me?

So many fascinating things have happened while these sleeves continue to grow (not really).  I can at least read while knitting this, so I finished reading Red Mars.  I wanted a break before the next book in the series, so I did something dumb. I bought a certain "sci-fi" book many knitters are raving about set in the  Highlands.  I hated it.  Really hated it.  I had never bought a trashy romance novel in my whole life.  Now my record is spoiled.  I kept waiting for whatever people were claiming was awesome to happen.  It never did.  Please don't be upset with me, fellow knitters, all of the color ways based on the book series are incredibly beautiful.  In fact, that's probably why I got it.

I did laugh out loud while reading it several times.  That's something that almost never happens, but it wasn't supposed to be funny.  I couldn't stop picturing Mick Hucknall as the lead, which completely negates the mood the author was trying for.  It was all the "fiery red hair" comments, I guess. Have you seen Mick Hucknall lately?

So I moved onto the Mistborn series.  The first book, The Final Empire, was pretty good.  I haven't read this type of book in a long time.  I can't tell if this is meant for young adults or regular adults or what.  It pretty much jumps right into action and there aren't long, dry descriptions of landscape or weighty monologues.  But, it's not childish, unless you call a book without mature content and a few characters that aren't twisted childish.  I don't, so maybe I've lost my modern, literary compass.  So what if it uses the word "chuckled" too much?  Am I so jaded by the Game of Thrones type story that I can no longer recognize a novel as good fantasy if it doesn't leave me feeling a little sick?

Anyway, I liked the world the story takes place in and the abilities of the main characters.  It felt like reading a real story about something.  Can you tell this project is dragging out?

There's also a new Doctor, right?  I've watched every episode with him while still knitting on this sweater.   I like Clara so much more than Amy.  Boy, I sound catty with this post.  It must be that I'm grouchy over my never-ending cardigan.  I started The Returned on Netflix, too.  Honestly, it's a downer and it's only a few episodes long, so I'm sure I'll finish it before finishing the sweater.

Hmmmm, what else can I escape into every two or three rows, besides Pinterest and camper renovation websites?  There's all of the youtube videos my kids and I send to each other.  I find myself clicking on them here and there, as sort of a time waster's greatest hits: old man barking, not to be racist or anything, people falling at Disney, I like Turtles, and scarecrow dougie, to name a few.  (My daughter sent me that last one when I happened to be at the hospital, listening to someone tell me some very serious information about her husband.  As soon as she walked away, I looked down and saw this on my phone and could not stop laughing.  People around me thought I was a horrible person.  To be fair, I was there for my own relative and was under great stress, but still.)

Okay, I've gotta get back to that collar.

(via Pinterest)

Progress!

I've been avoiding things again, things like posting here.  It's not because I've grown tired of it.  I'm just not getting a lot of crafting time lately, so I'm using all my spare time to finish up my works in progress.  These are for both the Summer Sweater KAL and Classic Must Knits KAL because it doesn't get any more sweater-y or classic than Hannah Fettig's Featherweight and Cirilia Rose's Aidez.

So here's a quick instagram update of my Featherweight Cardigan knit in Tosh lace and JaggerSpun Zephyr.

I'm thinking I'll do one more green and yellow repeat then finish off the bottom with an extra amount of blue.  I'll do the same with the sleeves.  Then the band will be knit in the same blue.

Honestly, I'm dreading the sleeves.  But, I have gotten to a point where I can read while knitting this, carefully and in English style, by feel alone.  So, it doesn't seem as time consuming.  Of course, with all long stockinette projects comes the promise of a good read or netflix marathon.  This time it was seeing Amy and Rory off of Dr. Who.  (Am I the only person who was tired of Amy?) and catching up on Clara episodes before the debut of the new doctor.  More importantly I re-read Red Mars to get ready for starting Green Mars, finally.  Red Mars is one of those books I read as if it's a fact.  I just accept it like it happened.  I forget I'm reading fiction.  Anyway, all of those Martian landscape descriptions make me long for Utah.

My Aidez is taking much more concentration than Featherweight.  Thankfully, Allyson's chart from The Sweatshop of Love's Aidez KAL a couple of years ago is taking all of the thinking out of this for me.  That's a good thing right now.  I'm getting used to a new schedule with my son's high school activities and grandparent's routine.  My mental hard drive is totally full.

On a side note, this acrylic is not getting on my nerves at all.  I am a big bargain yarn kind of girl, but even so, I wondered if I'd enjoy it.  The answer is yes.

(on ravelry, kollabora, instagram, flickr)

That doesn't look like much progress, huh?  But it is all knit at once to avoid seams.  I look at other Aidez projects in my two knitalongs and shudder at all of the curling, cabled shapes, laid out on the floor like puzzle pieces, awaiting the tapestry needle.  Right now, seamless and brainless is the way to go for me.