My Paloma cardigan

January 21, 2015


Photo credit Heather Hands 

Hi friends. First of all, thank you for the kind words after last week's post. I'm happy to report that this past week has been peacefully uneventful, up until the weekend which was just great, with my sister-in-law's visit and the city turning green and blue in celebration of another season's accomplishment. I worked a lot, slept a lot, and once the weekend came, focused on coffee, good food and movies. Graham and his sister share a love for B movies that I do not always get, however on this particular occasion mindless was all I was asking for, and it worked out quite well. I now feel more rested and level headed, ready to start catching up on a few backlogged posts and new projects. I've finally felt ready to break into the kilo of yarn I dragged around in my backpack last January, and picked a raglan sweater and a slouchy hat for the delicious alpaca yarn. But before I'm ready to share more, let's back track a little.

Back in November, when I should have been making Christmas gifts for everyone instead of leaving them to the last minute, I decided to knit my first real sweater (this one, adorable but without sleeves, felt a little bit like cheating). I decided not to look for a simple sweater, but instead for one that I would want to wear all the time. My dream sweater was a thick, super warm cardigan with pockets, which would be a perfect sweater for cold winter days, and double up as a light spring coat. I devoted a few weeks in November to this sweater, and if I had been asked to give it a name, it would have been at that time my Chilton's sweater, as in Rory Gilmore, the early years. After hours of work and TV, I was pretty anxious to piece it together, and relieved to see that my dream sweater came true.

Photo credit Heather Hands 


Photo credit Heather Hands 

I absolutely loved this pattern by Thea Colman, and if you don't know her I highly recommend heading over to her site. Her Paloma was so well written and well constructed, it was a dream to knit and seam together, even for an inexperienced sweater knitter like myself. And the bulky yarn helped too. I really enjoyed the attention to detail that went into the design, and how nicely it came together. My only struggle was with the button band, the very last step, as I found difficult picking up the right stitches on the diagonal line of the V neck. I also had to pick up further in than I thought, and so it took a few trials to get it right. Overall, it went pretty quickly and smoothy, thanks to the well written instructions.



I decided to use O-Wool like the pattern suggested, and was very happy to discover this small company, locally producing yarn in Philadelphia. The Legacy bulky was lovely to knit with, softening over time, and giving a great stitch definition, which worked perfectly with the elongated seed stitch of the pattern. I'm really happy with the colour: Overcast, a light grey with just a hint of lilac, depending on the light, pairing perfectly with jeans. If you're unsure, you can check out the colours before making a final decision with these colour shade cards the company offers. Brilliant. I went back and forth on the buttons for a while, unsure what to do, and finally decided on some simple, matte navy buttons I found at Stitches.

I am very fortunate to have a talented friend generous of her time, who lets me show up at her house with a pile of recently knitted items, and photograph them for me. I've never really enjoyed getting my picture taken, struggling to find the right smile that seems genuine, to keep my eyes open, to look somewhat natural. Even though her patience and honesty always make it easier for me, I was happy to let these two ridiculous dogs steal the show.

Photo credit Heather Hands 


Photo credit Heather Hands 

Photo credit Heather Hands 

2 comments:

  1. This is a gorgeous cardigan - thank you for sharing, I've added it to my Ravelry list. Cute dogs :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Gail, I would highly recommend this cardigan, such a fun knit!

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