Dampish

It isn't what I call dry, but it is dry enough to lift up off the mats and take some photos of.  

A very long time ago, I saw a really cute little vest with a fold back ribbed collar in a Noro Mini Knits book.  If I could tell you which one it was, I would.  I started thinking about it again after I finished my Seaglass vest.  That, too, had a fold back collar.  

And then there is the ever present Featherweight Cardigan.  So many of my knitting friends have been working on those.  That wide simple collar and classic simple lines.  My wardrobe could use a new light weight sweater. 

Featherweight has a few things I don't like about it.  It has raglan sleeves and I think a set in sleeve looks much nicer particularly in fine yarns.  Its very straight line from shoulder to hem on the fronts, is a bit of an issue.  With my narrower shoulders and wider everything else, I'm not so sure that a straight line will work.  

I'm left in my usual country.  I have to understand a shape and what adjustments will be needed before I can knit the vision in my head.  

So that is what I did.  In my Ravelry project, I called this one Testing, because that is exactly what I did.  I tested.  I tested what leaving the fronts straight looked like. Not ideal.  When you leave them straight, they fall so far off to the side, that any collar work you do is immaterial.  I tried it again, and added width. I added it high and too fast and then tried again adding it long and low slow.  More than just tracking rows and stitches, I learned just where a garment with simple shaping like this should fall across my frontage.  I know just what I would aim for, should I ever get around to knitting a Featherweight.  

After all that testing, and then knitting the collar I saw so long ago, I end up with this.

This is kitchen knitting at its best.  It was knit between putting water on and waiting for it to boil.  It was knit while waiting to flip the food on the grill.  This is a sweater of minutes.  I've only had 2 days, one earlier in May and last Saturday, where it was the core of my knitting day.  One day was devoted to making the sweater long enough, and the other, to making it longer still and doing all the ribbing.  

The ends have been woven in and I have some hidden chunky hook and eye closures to attach, so close to complete.  It is just what I wanted.  Warm but not overwhelming.