When I was going through my Pinterest and reviewing all the sweaters/cardigan I have on the needles, I realized there was one that was winning the race among all my projects.
I’m making it in gorgeous Frog Tree Pediboo Worsted and it just bounces from stitch to stitch. The pattern is pretty straightforward top-down action (never knit a top down cardi? Take our top down class and learn how) and the yarn is so springy…
…About The Yarn
Did I mention I’m making it in Frog Tree Pediboo? Yeah, maybe a few times already. I know, I know I get excited when I introduce you guys to something awesome. Pediboo has been a favorite in the shop ever since the lovely folks at Frog Tree introduced Pediboo Sock a few years ago. It’s one of my absolute fave sock yarns, but works up beautifully for so many other things including color work.
We’re always thrilled to introduce our commuknitty to beautiful yarns so when I heard about Pediboo Worsted I knew it was gonna be love at first site. And it is. Just look at the colors: from skittles to beach glass, each one is prettier than the next.
I think you all agree with me because it’s been a very popular choice for all sorts of projects from babies to big folks. It’s a true worsted easily getting gauge at 18/24 and it’s machine washable so it’s easy care. One of the most remarkable things about it is once washed, this yarn becomes light at a feather. Swatch it and see for yourself. (You were planning on swatching right?) Now, for a garment like Cassis, this is significant. It’s a longish cardi, so that’s a lot of knitting, a lot yarn and ultimately, a pretty heavy item that may cause it to lose shape or sag after a while. But in Pediboo it converts to light and drapey, with plenty of shape-saving bounce-back built in to the tight twist and fiber blend. Perfect!
About Frog Tree
When we first opened Knitknack (way back in the dark ages, heh heh), we instantly connnected with the spirit of Frog Tree and its founders/owners Tricia and Chet. It was and remains a family run business, like Knitknack, and is focused on community enrichment and collaborative creativity, something we strongly identify with in this yarn-filled space.
In Tricia and Chet’s own words,
After working throughout the Americas at the grassroots level for many years, we founded Frog Tree Yarns as a not-for-profit company in order to help talented artisans/workers receive well-deserved, reasonable compensation for their efforts and to promote fair trade.We are committed to treating our clients fairly, providing high quality products and fair pricing, emphasizing customer service and promoting a sense of community among all involved.Our funds are used to support educational and environmental projects, charitable organizations and volunteer groups.
What’s not to love? I can easily think of at least three more garments I want to make with this but in the mean time, I’ll be wearing Cassis all through this transitional season of Spring into Summer. Come on in and see it…I’ll even let you try it on. Oh wait, is this yours?
I like to knit. A lot. And I like yarn. A lot. But more than any of that, I like to make stuff. You can see that from my Ravelry page, 92 projects not including many, many projects that have never made it on to my Ravelry board.
Y’know I love all those small projects that use one skein of delicious or two skeins of juicy. It’s a great make-and-take process: quick, no overwhelm and barely a chance to get bored before I finish.
But…apparently I also love sweaters. Cardigans, pullovers, wrapigans, the lot. I was sorting through projects the other day using Pinterest to clearly map what was on my needles right now and this is what I found: take a look. Here’s a sampling of what’s in progress: about a dozen garments in total.
So I put in a little mileage on each and eventually they will all get done. I hope. Meanwhile it hasn’t stopped me from moving ahead with another cardigan on the needles: The Traveling Sweater. This was one of those beauties we had in the shop during the Yarn Crawl, which everyone tried on and L O V E D. Looked great on all, felt fabulous and was just all around irresistible. 4 skeins later and 2400 yards of knitting: no prob! Well…I’ve gotten as far as the swatch, how about you?
Let’s get this going!! Time for a Cast On Party!!! We’ve got miles of knitting ahead and if you’re like me and plan a little r&r this summer, or need a good long beach read in the form of a gorgeous project, this is it. So…join us for a Cast On Party on May 22nd 12:30-2 pm.
Before the Cast On Party, you will need to do a little homework:
1. Wind one skein of yarn. You can wind ‘em all if you like but BMFA Woobu it’s 620 yards: BMFA BFL Sport is 660 yards. So that’s a lot of winding. Stop in and use our winder if you like. The electric winder is broken and so is my rotator cuff but you’re welcome to use the manual winder and crank away.
2. Do a swatch: I’ve read the designer’s copious notes/posts about the sweater and it boils down to this: your row count is essential because she gives some directions in pattern with specific row counts. Of course stitches per inch matter, but row count is crucial for this design to fit right, and truly that is not the case with many patterns (where they say knit for XX inches for example).
Knit at least 4 inches, and if you can knit a 6 x 6 swatch even better. Please don’t do a 1-2 inch pseudo-swatch and bring it in to show me. I can’t give you any relevant feedback if you do that and you’ll be advised to swatch bigger and better.
So swatch away friends, and steam block if you do the ribbed swatch. Truthfully I’m not sure why there is a stockinette swatch option since the entire garment is knit in ribbing.
3. Read through the entire pattern before the Cast On Party and review short row technique. There are many different ways to do short rows: for this pattern the designer uses classic w&t short rows, picking up wraps and knitting them together with their corresponding stitch as you come to them on the following row. I know, it’s a mouthful. This video from KnitPurlHunter shows wrap-and-turn (w&t) short rows very clearly.
And this one shows how to pick up the wraps
We will practice this during the Cast On Party so bring some scrap yarn so everyone can master this because otherwise you’ll have ugly knitting and nobody wants that, especially not after 2400+yards of stitching right?
p.s. You did download the Errata right? What Errata? This. Right here.
