My knitting work in progress
with first button band on, it’s time to review the button choices. The larger mother of pearl and coconut shell buttons I thought I would like based on swatching look a bit large on the finished band, so the smaller smokey shell buttons look to be the best choice.
With my button choice finalized, it’s on to the second button band, and buttonholes.
Inspiration: one of my samples from the Stitches Textures class – square 31 from Barbara Walker’s Learn to Knit. These twist stitch pseudo cables are the kind of low-bulk patterns I want to use. Sample knit at worsted weight.
Ten years ago, before knitting classes at WEBS, before I knew more than one way to do cast-ons and bind-offs, before I knew how to apply a button band or realized how badly I had misunderstood how to mattress stitch a seam, I decided to make myself a cabled cardigan with a wide, warm collar, franken-patterned from a hoodie with 2 1/2 pounds of Bartlett Fisherman 3-ply yarn. I made a lot of design choices that avoided things I wasn’t sure how to do. Over the years I have ripped, re-knit and grafted parts to improve the fit, but it’s still a bit of a mess, and still my favorite, most-worn, go-to sweater on a cold winter morning.
When I thought about what I wanted to do for my WEKP project, there was a light bulb moment when I realized that the sweater I most wanted to make and wear was was this one, only better — keep the aran-inspired design, versatile shape and color, but lighter, less bulky, a little less rustic, with design choices based on my preferences rather than limited knitting skills.
