A yoke and a swatch
Thanks so much everyone for your kind comments on the puff-sleeved cardigan! I am very pleased with it, and delighted that y’all liked it as well. A couple of you asked if the short-sleeves made the whole wool-sweater thing redundant, but I find that they work very well for this springy weather here in the bay area. I’ve worn it incessantly since I finished it, and with a scarf, it’s perfect even for cooler evenings, not just for the nice 60sish days we’ve been having. And the wool is lighter than a cotton short-sleeved cardigan would be, so it doesn’t feel too warm at all.
In fact, I liked the idea of the short-sleeves so much that I swatched for another pattern, Norah Gaughan’s Currer I bought the Vol. 2 booklet at Stitches, and amazingly, Cascade Eco +, supposedly 3.5 stitches to the inch, gets me the right gauge for this pattern at 4.5 stitches, on size 8 needles. My loose knitting never fails to amaze me. The colour is 0958, a rusty shade that looks much better when wound and swatched than in the skein. I’m still not sure if I am going to like the thick gauge overall, but the yarn is cheap enough, and the sweater small and unusual enough that I’m willing to try it. And did I mention that I worship Norah? Also, my Cobblestone hobbles along. This is the third attempt at a yoke, starting the decreases well before the pattern calls for them, and also trying something with a v-ish neck. Wish me luck, because I am totally winging this. I have a weird picture in my head about how the overall finished sweater is supposed to look, and no amount of stringing and wearing is giving me a sense of whether it will fit, as yet. It involves several mods other than the split in front, so keep your fingers crossed that they will all work out. Unfortunately, since I didn’t bother to decrease the short rows before I split the neck, I’m having to do the garter stitch in a funny way - half of it is fully-knit, the other half fully-purl, changing over at the centre back. Ah well. Spring break begins this weekend. I just revised and sent an article to a journal, and have only a dissertation and a couple of papers to read over the next week. Dare I hope that this will be done soon? Wish me luck, and stay tuned. 
