I was recently given the challenge of taking five 100 yard hanks of yarn and making something grand out of them.
I'm a big fan of Master Chef, a TV show where the "home chefs" are given certain ingredients and are challenged to make something amazing/fantastic/yummy/beautiful and a frighteningly short amount of time. I felt a little bit like that upon taking up this challenge. 500 yards has endless opportunities, but when each hank is a different shade of blue, that puts some limits on a design. It needed to get done quickly, sandwiched between other deadline knitting and the daily grind.
One of my favorite yarn companies is Neighborhood Fiber Company. I discovered them when we moved to DC and my LYS carried it. The mastermind behind NFC is Karida, a woman with sass, endless color capabilities and charisma. Haven't knit with her Studio Worsted yet? Do it. You'll thank me. I grabbed a few hanks of her Studio Sock a few years ago when I wanted to knit my mom a beaded shawl that would knock her (knitted) socks off (seemed like a great idea until 1000+ beads dumped on my keyboard, onto the kitchen table, onto the floor and onto everything). The depth of the yarn (named after local neighborhoods) is beautiful and once I discovered her Worsted (the colors, *swoon*) and that it had good yardage AND was super wash, I was hooked. This was the yarn I had for the challenge.
What to do with 500 yards of five shades of blue? I only had to look at my son to get my answer. A cabled cardigan for Callum! It is a universal truth that children look adorable in hand knit cardigans, especially those with cabling and stripes. E = MC2, 5+5=10, what goes up must come down, toddlers look cute in hand knit cardigans. They just do. It is known.
What transpired over the course of a few days turned into Callum's Cardigan, a top-down raglan with cabling down the back and twisted cables running down either side of the button band. There's a lot going on in this pattern... Stripes, button holes, raglan increasing, different cables on the front and back... I had a great time designing and knitting it. I even had a little bit of each color left!
Five of my friends are currently pregnant. I think I'll knit this cardi up in a solid for one of them.
Callum's Cardigan pattern available for download here.