Green Gable Completed!

Here she is! My Green Gable Sweater! This was knit in Malabrigo, merino worsted. I have to say I'm very pleased with it. All in all, it was easy to knit, especially since it is knit in the round! But beyond the pattern, knitting with Malabrigo was a dream. I even used my cheapy needles and it was still fun! Very soft. The yarn is also very wearable, it feels like butter on the skin! Mmmmmmm, buttah! I've also used Manos before, which in contrast, is a little itchy.

The color is amazing, the pictures don't do this colorway justice. But I must admit, after doing the swatch, I didn't think I'd like the color variation, inherent in kettle-dyed yarn. I took the yarn back! Tricia, my LYS owner and Tim Gunn coach told me to "carry on!" and sent me marching home...with the yarn in hand! And tada! I'm glad she did. This baby has personality.

I started the sweater around Thanksgiving, but have picked it up and down through the holidays and such. If I had worked straight through, I think it could have been finished in one week, knitting at night.

Pattern note: The total stitch count is off for the medium size when you get to the underarm. Which explains why I initially thought I did something wrong. I also knitted a few extra rows at the underarm for better ease. I did make two hiccups in the raglan shaping but the yarn and pattern held up and hid it well.

Here's the story on how I found the pattern. I wandered into Nana's Knitting Shop, my LYS to get some help from Tricia on the the Matador sweater in Knitscene's 2006 magazine. By the way, this magazine has great patterns including the Central Park Hoodie. Anyway, when I get there, it is Saturday, Tricia's off day, so Cory, was giving me some advice and showed me her Zephyr style Wicked pattern since the Matador was also knit raglan, but unfortunately from the bottom up? Weird. In comes Lauren wearing this lovely short sleeved sweater in golden heathered brown. "Did you knit that?! Where's the pattern!" was pretty much all I could utter. It fit Lauren very well, tailored around the hip and waist and the lace top was attractive. Needless to say, I bought the pattern but still no yarn. I came back a few days later to see Tricia and remarked about Lauren's sweater. "Cascade 220." "No way!" Of course as Vanna, I mean Tricia, the hostess with the mostess does, she took me on tour of the all yarn that was made just for me and my pattern. Of the choices, the Malabrigo was calling my name. A very seductive experience as the other enablers in the shop added their background melody, cheering me to take three skeins home, even though I was supposed to be working on something else! I have a little ball left for a scarf or maybe a hat for my toddler. I love Nana's!