Fun With The Felix Cardigan
As I tap tap tap on the keyboard, my Felix Cardigan is on the dining room table almost dry! It smells so wonderful as I gave it a good soak in Jasmine scented Eucalan which I purchased as a treat when I visited Far North Yarn Co. I spent many lovely hours with Annie laughing as we squeezed yarn skeins trying to create the perfect pallet for a project I had no idea I even wanted to cast on. And I haven’t yet, so the cardigan in the center of the table, much like the main course of a fancy dinner that isn’t happening, well, that cardigan is the topic of today’s typing, and it is knit in yarn I had in stash, not that I purchased from Annie’s lovely yarn store.
The cardigan drying is The Felix Cardigan by Amy Christoffers, the designer Savory Knitting. And if you have some time, I have a little story to tell.
A steady, unrelenting rain has settled here in Kodiak, Alaska for the last two weeks and two days.
Though the calendar reads June,
I still have on woolen knits.
Inside my home.
It is warm enough thought that I am wearing a Carhart hat, which is not wool.
But again, I am indoors dressed this way. I simply can’t bring myself to turn on the heat. It is summertime after all.
So I was of the mind to knit in a soft, round, WARM wool. I had just moved my yarn, fiber, and all knitting-related items to a different part of my home, and fresh in my mind was the Barrett Wool Home yarn I had neatly stacked at the bottom of the organized worsted section. Most likely, when I finish talking with you, I should go and tidy that back up as I made a bit of a mess of it. In my excitement to cast on, I neglected to behave as an adult and clean it up straight away. Ah, well, there’s a little something to keep me busy while I wait for the cardigan to be 100% dry so I can weave in the loose ends.
Let me share about the wool a bit more before I share about the finished project so you can picture what I am knitting. Barrett Wool Co. is an American company founded by Susan B. Anderson and run by Susan and her son. It is always a quick “Yes!” for me when I get an email sharing a new kit available.
The “yes!” comes easily because of the thoughtful kits curated by Barrett Wool Co., and also because the 100% American wool has a variety of vivid colors that feel good in hand as I knit with them, and they also create beautiful finished objects.
Some time ago I purchased the worsted weight Home yarn in the color Field, a green-gold color that reminds me of all the happiness and joy of being outside. The 3-ply yarn is round and soft, happy to be worked into my summer sweater! At 230 yards (210 m) per 110 gram skein, I used 3 full skeins and 26 grams of the 4th one.
I put each skein on my umbrella swift and balled them by hand as I went. This is a part of knitting that I enjoy very much. For me, the time spent balling by hand is an opportunity to spend time just with the yarn before introducing the pattern, needles, stitch markers…all the things. It is just me and the yarn. A bit of bonding… Ok maybe bonding is a bit too far. Assessment is closer to what it actually is for me. I have strategically used this time on many occasions to re-think my choice for a project. There have been yarns put on my swift, balled up, only to be reskeined before I cast on a stitch. There have been plenty of times I don’t even finish the ball, and I just start to wind it back into the skein. Often it isn’t because I don’t like the yarn. It isn’t that at all.
Let me reconstruct what happens in my brain when I decide to knit something.
This is just one example:
Usually, I am in the middle of knitting a sock and my brain says
“What- are- you- doing!?
YOU NEED A SWEATER!”
( I don’t know how many of you out there also have ADD or ADHD. If you do, this next part will make sense. If you don’t, I should inject here that this is a TRUE STORY.)
After having to knit back 2 rounds because I noticed I messed up a cable sequence, my brain sets off alarms: “HELLO!?! Why concentrate on fixing that when I NEED A SWEATER ?! Winter is coming and now is the only time to start a sweater.”
Suddenly, I can think no other thought.
I put the sock into it’s project bag, knowing full well I would not be returning to this project until mid-autumn at the earliest, and down the hallway I go to look at yarn.
I should also mention that my current sweater knitting status includes:
I am actively knitting a vest for my youngest daughter,
a vest for myself,
a simple pullover— I say simple: I mean it is a stockinette knit, classic style and very tailored which I am knitting in a strand of mohair and a strand of single-ply, fingering-weight, silk merino yarn held together. It is just the most magical thing!
I have a scrappy pullover I have no pattern for and I am enjoying creating that pattern as I go,
and another pullover brimming with colorwork (from the bottom up) in process.
So when my brain is panicking because I NEED A SWEATER, what it is really conveying to me is my need to get a cardigan started.
And I am not wrong.
To recap: I am knitting one project and suddenly made aware of the fact that my attention is urgently needed on a different project, I leap into action and get on it. In this specific example, I looked to yarn for inspiration, and seeing too many perfect options, I switch tack and look for a sweater pattern.
Specifically, a cardigan!
Amy Christoffers of Savory Knitting is a brilliant knitting pattern designer and a lovely human. I have knit many of her sweater patterns and have enjoyed the process as well as the finished object. So when I searched my phone’s Knitting Pattern folder several of her patterns were there and ready to be cast on! I knit the Felix Pullover a few years ago. The raglan increase detail was interesting and fun, with bonus points for looking lovely when worn.
The Felix Cardigan pattern popped up as I scrolled, and my brain said:
“Yes! Let’s gooooo!”
So with that choice made, back to the yarns I went!
The pattern calls for an Aran weight yarn. The pattern notes state: “The cardigan is worked at an open, airy gauge. If substituting yarn look for Aran or chunky weight yarn to match gauge.” The gauge is 14 sts x 20 rows = 4 inches in Stockinette stitch. The Barrett Wool Co. Home yarn is calling out to me. Like I said earlier, the Field colorway is just so good. I pull it out from the bottom of the stack, making a mess, and hurry to the swift.
In case I did a poor job of explaining things, which very well may be, I may not have conveyed to you that this whole episode was a bit of a hasty undertaking.
Very impromptu.
And that is where the hand winding comes in clutch. I don’t read a book, or listen to a podcast, or Facetime a friend while I am balling the first skein.
This is the time when I can, and often do, evaluate (and re-evaluate) what I am about to start.
Do I like the yarn?
Do I like the yarn for this project?
Does it feel like it will be a good fit for the pattern requirements?
What changes can I expect when substituting this specific yarn and yarn weight for the recommended yarn or sample knit?
I have knit with Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair before (which is the pattern example yarn). As I ball the Home yarn, I do so very slowly, and try to recall the Mountain Mohair. Yes, there will be a difference using this yarn instead. And I try to think through the properties of the two yarns, not to talk myself out of the substitution, but to think through differences in the fabric created.
If I take time now to come to terms with expectations vs. reality, I can confidently make a decision.
When I reach the end and the ball is complete, I have had time to let my activities catch up with my thoughts, and I like the idea of this cardigan, in this yarn, being the project that interrupts my sock.
I cast on!
The cardigan starts at the top, but not with the ribbed neck band, just straight away to the main event. The neck band will be picked up once the body is complete, and before the front button bands are picked up and worked.
Spoiler alert, my cardigan has no button holes as I am taking this knit in a different closure direction.
The knitting was rhythmic and relaxing. I love purling, so those rows were pleasant for me. The aforementioned raglan eyelet detail is simple enough for new-to-sweater-knitting knitters to give it a try, and those with more sweater knitting in their repertoire will enjoy the break in stockinette.
Before I knew it I had cast off the bottom hem and was on to the sleeves. Two things were instrumental in the joy of knitting the sleeves, rather than the dreaded sleeve island monotony so many knitters struggle with… And those two things were treats to listen to!
{I have not introduced you to Alice. She is our newest family member; my daughter adopted her. She loves my desk.}
I’d like to pause the knitting process for a moment because the two things I listened to while working the sleeves are with more than the passing comment.
I am a huge mystery fan.
The kind of whodunnit that is akin to cerebral gymnastics, but not gore. My imagination is far too vivid for what gory writing allows me to create in my mind. The murder mysteries I like are akin to the Golden Age of Mystery, like Poirot and Miss Marple, and sometimes Morse, who, strictly speaking, is not Golden Age, rather he’s modern. To be fair though, there are often details and descriptions that I have to skim when reading about his efforts to keep Oxford safe.
OK, I know I need to stay focused, as once I start on mystery tangents I go on and on, but this is too good to miss the opportunity to share with you.
I was recommended the book How to Solve Your Own Murder a week or two before casting on my Felix Cardi. I walked to my local indie bookstore and didn’t have it in stock, so I wound up purchasing a few other books instead. But, I really wanted to read that book! So I did what every impatient bibliophile does, and downloaded it from Audible to listen to on the walk home.
About 10 minutes in I was questioning the decision I’d made on this book choice and was considering if I should continue. As luck would have it, I met a friend enroute and popped out my earbuds to chat for a few minutes, and sort of forgot about my book dilema. The conversation with my friend wrapped up, and I resumed my hike, and the story.
I was in a different headspace and the story soon took a twist!
And no kidding, I walked past my house and continued on for another 30 minutes just to keep listening to the story!
So hooked on this book, that on each of my afternoon walks, I listened to the book. And when I got to the part in the pattern for the sleeves, it made sense to incorporate listening to the mystery. I could solve the crime and get the sleeves done!
The narrators did such a great job that my knitting flew along and before I knew it, I solved the mystery and created a sleeve! Not bad, I thought.
But now my book was done, and the remaining sleeve was not. And so I decided to treat myself to Wagner, who I deeply enjoy. (I mean the Ride of the Valkyries is such an anthem! And Das Rheingold…such a moving piece! Having Wagner’s music with the powerful highs and despairing lows… well the second sleeve, too, was done before I realized it.)
If you enjoy tv knitting, I encourage you to find an audiobook to give a try as you knit. It is a whole 'nother level of enjoyment!
Despite what I shared about the sleeves finding their way to completion without me paying the slightest attention…that isn’t the usual truth.
Most often, when I am listening to an audiobook and knitting, I find I am completely engaged in the story while at the same time being fully present in each stitch I make. For example, when I look at my handspun yarn in my Nightshift Shawl, I return at once to hiding amongst the rhododendron by the edge of a lake almost completely obscured by the mist, on a stakeout waiting for the villain to make an appearance.
My friend, that was knit 3 summers ago!!!, and yet that moment in the story is steeped into those knits, purls, and slipped stitches.
It is such a great pairing to listen to a story and knit up a sweater, sock, or shawl!
If you are an audiobook aficionado, please do share your audiobook recommendations in the comment section below! {MAYBE HEAD THERE NOW SO YOU DON’T FORGET} Bonus points for a good mystery recommendation!
So!! Felix had sleeves quickly done, and as I mentioned earlier, the neck band was picked up and worked after. Once I finished that portion, the right and left front bands were picked up and worked in 1x1 ribbing, with no buttonholes made. Instead of buttons, I plan to sew on some vintage velvet ribbon to the facing sides of the bands. After that lovely ribbon is secured, I will add snaps.
I will not wait to wear this cardigan though, especially as the high today was 44ºF. So for sure, my plan is to put it on as soon as I weave in the ends. I have a bit of a wait before the ribbon arrives, its coming a great distance. That story is another one for another time, which I am already eagerly looking forward to. And to be honest, the credit for the ribbon, from where I ordered it, and the lengthy journey it is taking is entirely due to something Amy Christoffers shared!
In the meantime, I am ever so thankful for time with you here, and the on podcast, and also those of you who take the time to send me messages and add your comments. So many of those were treasures, stored and savored, while I was on a break. Thank you.
And welcome back to you! And to me!
To our time here together to encourage better knitting in one another.
