Miette - Taking the Plunge

I shared some hand-knit cardigan inspiration the other day, and since then I have made my decision and taken the plunge, buying yarn and getting started on my first cardigan!

On Thursdaty, after shortening my list to four possibilities, I went down to Morris & Sons and Clegs to look at yarn in my lunchbreak. After mulling it over during the afternoon, my impatient self then went back to Morris & Sons after work to buy the yarn I'd chosen.

I ended up choosing to try the Miette Cardigan - while I absolutely loved some of the other cardigans they were all a fair bit more complicated. I decided that I'm dealing with enough new stuff learning how to make something cardigan shaped, so adding in lots of cabling or lace would just be making it harder than it needed to be. If I'm going to give this a go I should make it as most likely to succeed as possible, which means starting simple!

I saw some really really lovely yarns when looking, including some gorgeous merino yarn, and some lovely bamboo stuff. However they were either the wrong thickness for this pattern, or the price was a bit prohibitive to go that expensive. Instead I have chosen some lovely cotton yarn which came in at much more affordable price. I've also got some fun interchangable circular needles, where you can screw different needle sizes onto different cable lengths, I'll let you know how I find them in due course. It's also the first time I've gotten wooden needles - so far I've mainly used bamboo, with my first beanie being done on metal and plastic ones.

The yarn is Morris Avalon 10ply Pima Cotton in Moonstone. It's apparently quite a new one and came in a lovely selection of colours. I had to remind myself that I'd decided I wanted a pale and neutral coloured cardigan that would go with lots of things, or I would have come away with one of the other lovely colours.

Excited to get going, I spent thursday evening knitting up my swatch straight away - taking the advice of the lovely lady in Morris & Sons I cast on a few extra stitches, and knit a swatch with a central stockinette section 18 stitches wide with a few extra stitches in garter stitch along the edge to stop it curling. After knitting my swatch I was a bit worried my gauge was too small, as it appeared to be 3.5 inches for 16 stitches, rather than the needed 4 (shown below, pre-blocking). However, I carried on and blocked it (hand washing it in warm water then laying it flat to dry and it's dried a little bigger - just the tiniest bit smaller than 4" for 16 stiches.

I have to say, the yarn knits up so incredibly soft, with beautiful drape - I have to admit I have spent quite a lot of time playing with my swatch since it dried, as it's just so lovely! Can't wait to have a whole cardigan like it!

(I've started a ravelry entry for this project here)