Still not 100% here, but I can’t wait any longer to show you my latest FO: the much-awaited Midtown Cardigan. 

Ok, so maybe none of you were holding your breath for it. But I started this sweater last September, shortly after I received my copy of Midwestern Knits. All the patterns in that books are great, but the Midtown cardigan looked like the sort of sweater I would wear all the time. In a rare alignment of the stars, I even had the right yarn: four years of 100% Romney in DK weight from Vermont Grandview Farm, purchased as CSA shares. 

I flew through the back, with only minor mishaps with the intarsia pattern on the center back (sadly not shown) because the two years of gray are almost indistinguishable in low light. Then I hit the zig-zag texture pattern on the front, and suddenly I had to pay attention to my work. The agony, right?  Most of my knits are plain stockinette, so working the fronts was a definite workout for the brain. Another knitter on Ravelry made the fronts identical to the back, with texture on the border and stockinette for the main section, but I was using my special yarn, so I wanted to go all out. 

The promise of showing this sweater off at the county fair lit a fire under me this summer, and I buckled down to crank out the sleeves in a couple of weeks.  I was super proud of it, and proud of the character of the yarn: each year, the yarn came from different sheep in the flock and was spun in small batches at a nearby mill. One year the cream was slightly creamier, with a slipperier, denser yarn, and the next year it was paler and sproingier.  The slipped stitch pattern blended them together really beautifully, I thought.

The judge was only whelmed, however, and gave the sweater a blue ribbon for uneven tension. In fair code, that is acceptable, not excellent, work.  I have convinced myself that they misread of the interaction of the two cream yarns.  Next year I will submit lace, and you can bet your britches it will have been blocked within an inch of its life. 

Ahem. 

Back to the sweater!  It was so special it needed properly styled FO photos, something I have been feeling the lack of since I moved away from las hermanas, my photo stylists.  So along the sweater came to San Francisco. Hermana took us to Temescal Alley in Oakland, and after epic shopping and donut-eating, we did a FO photo shoot. 

No matter what the judges say, I love this sweater. The story of the yarn, the fit of the pattern. I am so happy that I could get Hermana to style me in it (including telling me to stand up straight) to commemorate its completion. 

(For project details, check out my Ravelry project page)