Last month, I started to figure out my plans for a Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig. It started by realizing that the three skeins of Knit Picks Shadow I had in the Foxtrot colourway would likely not be enough, especially since I wanted to lengthen the sleeves and body. After some browsing through Ravelry projects I decided that since the Foxtrot was no longer available that I would make a striped version instead. So I ordered another two skeins of Knit Picks Shadow Tonal in the Pearlescent colourway.

When my yarn arrived I did a swatch, starting with 3.5 mm needles and then moving up to 4 mm needles. I also practiced the back join method of weaving in ends as you go which works well with stripes, from the tutorial I found on the Tech Knitting blog. I really liked the fabric with the 3.5 mm needles but I got gauge with the 4 mm needles, I decided to go with the gauge that Hannah specified instead of adjusting the pattern (at least this time).

Next up was deciding what size to make. Again I went through a number of the projects on Ravelry and the consistent message was that no or negative ease fit better. So I decided on the 38.5” bust measurement based on the size I was in my head. Then I actually measured myself and either I’m bigger than I was, I did it wrong, or my memory is wrong and went up to the 42” size with no ease. I’ve also decided to start specifying how much ease I made sweaters with. I know when I’m trying to figure out what size to make in a pattern I often look at how the pattern looks on other people and see if they mentioned what size they made and how much ease they used.

I cast on at the beginning of April and it’s been smooth sailing since then. I’m a few rows away from separating the sleeves and body and I expect to do that this weekend. Then I’ll be able to try it on and see how the fit is (and find out if I was wrong in my measuring). I’m excited about this cardi, I think it will be perfect for wearing at the office this summer.