Well! That took awhile. I don’t know how it’s possible that one sweater could live up to all of your expectations, but here it is!
Pattern: The Shawl-collared Cardigan from Jo Sharp Knit 1, 39.5″ size
Yarn: Zara Merino DK, charcoal gray
, 12 balls (with approximately 3 yards to spare)
Time Elapsed: Overall, 2 months. But I’d say this has only taken between 3 and 4 weeks, actually–the shawl has been much greedier of my time.
Modifications and Notes: I knit the entire sweater without a single modification, aside from the yarn swap. When I cast on for the project, I’d never seen the Alpaca Kid Lustre in person, and I was pretty afraid of another alpaca sweater being way too warm. So I went with a good workhorse merino, and I’m not sorry I did. But having seen the Alpaca at Ellen’s the last time I was in Maine, I may just have to knit it again. The stuff is luscious.
The Zara grows enough when it’s wet that I need to remember to shape the sleeves a little short–this time through the wash/dry cycle, they hung off the edge of the table and are about 1/2″ too long. But it’s easy enough to avoid that, and when I’m not a total dork they are the perfect length. If you’re knitting with this yarn, though, do be sure to wash your swatch before checking gauge.
The sweater is the perfect length, too, and I love how simple it looks from behind.
The tiny little row of purl at the bottom is enough that the sweater doesn’t look sloppy, but minimal enough to keep it modern.
And that’s how I feel about the sweater, too–modern, simple, basic enough to do whatever I need to do while wearing it.
Stylishly, to boot.
The sweater is simple and pretty fun to knit, actually. Yes, there’s lots of stockinette. But the construction is somewhat lively (you knit the plain pieces first, block and seam them together, and then knit and seam on the ribbed collar), and the details are so classic, and after all when would we get to watch television if not for stockinette? The waist shaping is extremely flattering, as are the sleeves (no tapering to the hands). I may reposition my little clasp to be an inch lower–we’ll see how I like it over time.
It goes with literally everything in my wardrobe, which is great. A cardigan is a year-round must here, and my closet has been sorely lacking in them.
Finally, lots more pictures (especially of the seams, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who enjoys seaming!) can be found at the FO page. Which is a testament to the greatness of this sweater, in itself–I’m usually hard-pressed to find 3 or 4 FO pictures I like. Today, they all seemed to turn out well.
I guess there’s not much else to say but hip, hip, hooray!
Amy Herzog Designs