A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Okay, everyone probably knew about the Kauni Cardigan before it even made an appearance on my radar. But finally, I saw it on Stephanie (Yarn Harlot) Pearl-McPhee’s site and then I of course Googled and checked out the Rainey Sisters. In case you lived under the same rock I did, the pattern is a free PDF from Ruth Sorenson. It took me a while to track down the yarn at a price I could afford and I got it from Fun Knits (fast service and good price).

So, got the yarn (EQ — the rainbow colors), printed the pattern and started swatching and swatching and swatching. Usually, I don’t do the “S” word thing but I actually want this sweater for me/myself — it’s mine. I found that even at gauge it wouldn’t fit with those numbers — a lot of caffeine and scribbled notes and calculator finesse and I finally figured out how many stitches I’d need to fit me and allow full pattern repeats horizonally. Since I can’t try it on until it’s done and there’s a steek so no going back for a do over once that’s cut — I think I got the size I need, I think (note the insecurity rising up on the mental horizon). Anyway, I looked around and saw a lot of different borders other than the railroad ribbing on the pattern. Now I don’t like ribbing in general on my sweaters because, well let’s not go there but it has to do with hips and being a woman of substance. So, I tried alternatives….

I decided the broken rib looked too much like V’s and the trial of ribbing (top) of photo just didn’t do it for me. So I ended up going for the garter stitch boxes — that I saw on the Rainey Sisters’ site. So now I’m up to the where I have to set up for the steeks for the armholes. Here’s photos of the front and back.

Anyway, I’m sort of stalled at this point. I’m thinking maybe I should take the sweater to the frog pond and then restart as a top down. Which means while I’m having this crisis of resolve, I started a pair of socks. I’ve seen the top down Kauni Cardigan and it looks great. The problem is the steek — once it’s cut there’s no do-over if it doesn’t fit right. Yeah, I know I measured. I swatched. I’ve measured the sweater as it is and it should fit with a bit of ease BUT … what if the wicked fairy comes with a curse on the cold wind and I finish and it’s six sizes too small. What do you think?