FO: Myrna Blue

When I was almost finished with my Endearment cardigan, I needed a project to take with me on a trip to North Carolina. I'm always nervous about flying with knitting - technically it's allowed, but you never know when you're going to get that one TSA with a power trip and they make you toss your needles of something awful like that. So the Endearment was out of the question - it had been such a long and ongoing project I didn't want to risk losing it. That meant I needed to cast on something new. I had recently thrifted this lovely yarn and really wanted to knit it up, so this sweater was born.

This is the Myrna pattern by Andi Satterlund (sadly, no longer available to buy). I made this once before back in 2014 when it was first released and Andi hosted a knit along. It became quite the turning point in my knitting even though I don't love the finished sweater because I knit almost the whole thing and realized it was entirely too big, so I ripped it all out and knit it smaller. Once you're willing to pull out an entire sweater as a newer knitter, you've turned a corner in your knitting. Anyway, that time I omitted the keyhole in the upper back, but this time I figured "Why not?" and just knit it as written. Does my hair always cover the hole? Yes, but oh well. Since I was knitting this on a plane, I cast on using my cheapest set of interchangeable needles - I had picked up a set of Knitter's Pride Acrylics. I had grabbed these over a year before in the clearance at Hobby Lobby for like $7.50 and never used them because I preferred my wood set of Dreamz. Not wanting to lose my nicer needles, I figured this was the perfect chance to try these needles, and I have to say they were much better than I would have thought. I normally avoid using plastic, but they really behaved similar to the other Knitter's Pride needles, just a bit more grippy, but with this yarn that was fine. I'm pretty happy to have this set for these types of travelling situations.

The yarn is really where this project began. This is Juniper Moon Farms Moonshine - a 40% wool, 40% alpaca, and 20% silk blend. I found 3.5 skeins in a thrift store ... for $2.00!!! I couldn't believe it. I live in Florida, so I rarely find good wool in a thrift store since it's so hot here. I snatched it up as fast as possible and set to finding a pattern. The yarn is soft with a slight halo from the alpaca, which does rub off on black clothing, but that's ok. The Myrna is a short sleeved sweater, and going off the yardage it took the first time I knew I could make this up with the amount I had. I got a lot of knitting done on my trip and managed to cast on and then already have it joined for the body and a few inches knit on the plane ride home.

I had a bit more yarn than I used previously, so I knew I wanted to extend the sleeves. I just knit the entire body like I normally would, then added the neckband, then divided the remaining yarn in half and knit the sleeves as long as possible. I used another one of Andi's patterns with 3/4 sleeves - Vianne - to get the decreasing right. I was able to squeak out the perfect 3/4 sleeve length, so I was really happy with that.

As always, I backed the button band with rayon petersham ribbon - ALSO from a thrift store for so cheap I can't even believe it. I never find actual rayon ribbon locally - I'se always have to order mine from Britex in California - but the same thrift store that had this yarn also had 3 whole spools of the light blue rayon petersham ribbon for $1 each on a different visit. Major score. I happened to be the perfect color and width for this project, so this was really all just meant to be.

The buttons were from my stash and are one of those buttons that has come in handy many times. They tend to match everything really well, so they have been used in many projects. Also they were dirt cheap, so it contributes to the incredibly low cost of this whole project, lol.

 

So that's my Myrna Blue cardigan :) It's turned out to be a great souvenir from my trip, being Carolina blue and all. I wear this a lot more than I anticipated when I made it up, which is always nice. I really enjoyed this whole project, and the price and how quickly it knit up makes it even more fun.

Summary:

Yarn: 3.5 skeins of Juniper Moon Farms Moonshine in the Cotton Candy Blue colorway - $2.00

Pattern: Myrna by Andi Satterlund - $6.50 (but this is the second time making it)

Notions: Rayon Petersham Ribbon - $0.25, 5 iridescent white buttons - $0.25

Time: 2 months

Total Cost: $9.00