Le Scarabée Bleu

I've knit relatively few sweaters during my years as a semi-obsessed knitter, and I feel that's something I need to fix. I happened to spot a grey and white version of La Maison Rililie's Le Scarabée Bleu cardigan at the Wollmeise spring sale, and decided it was something I should definitely knit, as well. I also knew that instead of buying DK or worsted weight yarn, which I have very little of in my stash, I should go with doubled fingering weight, which I have more than plenty (my stash is almost comically imbalanced when it comes to yarn weight).

While most of the time I don't swatch when I knit stuff like shawls (because the size is not critical) or socks (because I'm already familiar with my gauge), I've learned the hard way to never knit a sweater again without a swatch. Luckily my first swatch was exactly on gauge after I figured I should probably knit the right side rows with a larger needle to compensate for my looser purling. Thanks to interchangeable needles I was able to do that with a single circular with different sized tips on each end!

The way the pattern is designed is quite genius. I love the fit around the shoulder area, which is often an issue for me. The pleated lower portion in bubble wrap stitch is very distinctive, and the way the neckband and hem are worked with short rows is just brilliant. Obviously a lot of thought has been put into how the cardigan will fit and look. The only modification I made was the 3/4 sleeves instead of full-length ones, because I figured it would be more practical for me (and also a bit because I was sick of knitting striped sleeves with doubled yarn, with a few too many yarn cakes to wield around).

I'm so happy with the finished item!

The Ravelry project page

Ceciliana

I had the joy of test knitting Lisa Hannes' new pattern Ceciliana. The colorwork is done by mosaic knitting, so you always work with just one color at a time. Once you get used to the rhythm, the repeating pattern is quite easy to follow. I like the way the colors are reversed for the two mosaic knitting sections. I went with my staple Wollmeise, because that gave me the most freedom with color selection. Even though I previously was not totally in love with the cold orange of the Gänsefüsschen colorway, I really like how it pairs with one of my favorite Wollmeise colors, Ooohm. In certain lighting the combination of those two colors and the particular mosaic pattern causes some interesting visual illusions. I'm pretty sure the photos are safe to look at, though!

The Ravelry project page

Peeping Cowl

For some reason I've only knit a handful of cowls, even though I like the way they look on other people. Joji Locatelli's Peeping Cowl from the Interpretations Vol. 3 collection seemed like a perfect opportunity to correct my lack of cowls while allowing me to use several colors. I ended up making it a bit shorter than the original, leaving out two of the eight sections. The sport weight MCN yarns I chose seem like a good match for the pattern, even though it was written with a fingering weight yarn in mind. Besides often being a more practical option to traditional scarves, cowls are more fun to knit, so I'm pretty sure there will be more of them in the future.

The Ravelry project page