FO: Salal KAL

Well it's time for my annual Andi Satterlund Fall Knit Along make :) I love Andi's sweater patterns, and I've participated in her Fall KAL for the past 4 years (2014, 2015, 2016 and now this sweater) so I knew I had to keep that momentum going. This year's pattern was her Salal cardigan, which I was waiting to be released by itself (originally this design was only available in her magazine, Stranded, but I only wanted this pattern so I held out), so I was thrilled to get started this time :)

I shopped my stash and came out with this nice green wool. The yarn is Cloudborn Wool Worsted Twist from Craftsy that I grabbed during their summer sale for a crazy steal ($3 each skein!) and the colorway is Emerald Heather. I've been trying to use colors I haven't knit up already - I am very prone to pick blues and purples or really any other jewel tones, so I have more sweaters in these than anything else and I like to have a variety. This green is not a color I have already made up, so it fit the bill considering my other main choice was this same yarn in a deep teal (which I have made up similar before). I'm still happy with my choice since this goes with my wardrobe but isn't a duplicate in any way, which is nice. The wool itself was fun to knit with - very springy - and while it is slightly itchy on my arms it's great considering the price I paid for it.

The main feature of this sweater design is the lace V across the front neckline. I think the shape feels vintage but still modern, and considering the rest of the sweater is stockinette I thought this would be an extremely easy make. This was a mistake, lol, not because the pattern is hard but because it's so simple that it requires attention to make sure you get it right, which I apparently didn't give enough. I knitted the upper back, then the right and left front. The first time I knitted the left front, I added too many straight rows at the sides of the neck opening, so I had to pull it all out and start over. Once I finished the left front again, I noticed that the lace pattern wasn't matching up across the front of the sweater - the left side lace point was lower than the right front. Obviously something was wrong, but I could not for the life of me figure out where the mistake was made since technically all the lace was fine. I posted a picture to the KAL board and Andi told me that it looked like I started removing the lace motifs too early on the right front. Not knowing where else to start, I ran with this and pulled out my right front. Only after I was starting to knit it again did I realize that the left front and right front had different lace charts - I had used the same lace chart (the one for the right front) on both sides, which lead to the difference in the lace length. SO I had to pull the left front out again too and reknit both, lol. This stung a bit since at that point I knew that the right front had actually been fine, but what can you do at that point, you know? I just reknit both of them while paying much more attention then I had previously and everything went fine.

Once I finished the lace, the rest of the sweater was smooth sailing. I lengthened the body by several inches because I have a long torso but also because I just wanted it to be just past my waist as I find this looks better with my skirts I typically wear. I also left off a few decrease rows at the waist to fit my measurements better. Super easy changes. Mindless knitting for the win! One thing I will say now that I've worn this out and about - the shoulders are particularly wide on this pattern for me. You can see it in the back and front photos and it gives me almost a dropped shoulder, which feels like the sweater is too big when worn. This may be a problem I've had with other sweaters, but as I'm getting better at diagnosing fit I am noticing it now. If I was to knit this pattern again, I would probably size down to the medium until the arm holes, then large bust and xl waist. It's certainly not a big enough issue for me to not wear this or anything, just something to consider for the future. I need to pay better attention to all the measurements.

Even with all the knitting and pulling out, I managed to finish the knitting within a month. I could've made this much faster, but with Halloween and my 60s dress to sew, I only knit this on the weekends at church, so I'm pretty happy with my time it took to make this all things considered. I had some forest green rayon Petersham ribbon in my stash that worked well for backing the button bands, so I did my usual version of Lauren's tutorial minus the interfacing and it worked great. The button bands feel so nice and sturdy now :)

I then searched my button stash and the only ones I liked at all were these matte cream colored ones with a flower shape step down design in the center. I contemplated if I should go with the contrasting buttons or hold out for ones that would match the yarn better, but in the end I wanted to get this finished and submitted for the KAL deadline so I went with these knowing I could always switch them later if I found something I preferred. These have really grown on my though, and I think the cream is a nice touch considering I will probably wear this with my brown skirt most of the time.

So there you have it: My Salal Cardigan :) Another lovely knitting experience and fun knit along to boot. Now I have another sweater to add to the ranks should it ever get cool enough to wear wool here. We've had a few chilly days and I'm really hoping it will drop to cooler temps soon! Think cool thoughts for me :)

Summary:
Yarn: 4.51 skeins of Cloudborn Wool Worsted Twist in Emerald Heather - $15.00
Pattern: Salal by Andi Satterlund - $5.40
Notions: 7 buttons - $0.25, 40" hunter green rayon Petersham ribbon - $ 3.50, green thread - Free (giveaway)
Time: 1 month
Total Cost: $ 24.15

*And since you hung around to the end of this post, here's your reward - a super hot photo of me, lol. Gotta love the out takes :)