cottington's so crafty: An Abate! Gotta Stay Warm!

Brrrr!!! Days are getting chilly here. Camden needed a warm sweater to fight the cold, as her Paint Me a Sweater is short-sleeved, and her Penny Lane IS warm, but a girl doesn't always want a turtle-neck, right???

In comes the Abate sweater, designed by Alicia Plummer (FB page HERE and blog HERE) of the Plum Dandi Ravelry group. (There does happen to be two adult versions, called Ease...and Bulky Ease. As for the yarn....oh, the YARN!!! A big thanks goes to Jenny Porter, the dyer behind MarigoldJen yarns (FB page HERE, ravelry group HERE and shop HERE). She dyed this yarn at my request, and it's just so lovely. She called it Up North because I had told her I wanted it in grays, blues and greens to signify that Camden was born on the West side of the Cascade Mountains. It's the second time I've worked with her yarn, and I have several skeins in my stash because it's all SO GORGEOUS. Also, duh - she is awesomely sweet and helpful - and quick to respond to Etsy messages!

I've knit one or two of her patterns before, and this one was well-written. It's clearly mostly stockinette, and you can see on the pattern page that it's meant to have a bit more ease, but I did make it slimmer-fitting; I just can't remember now if that was with intention or not. I DO know I did make the forearm/wrist area slimmer-fitting, and I think I'd not do that next time. I love the fit, but I think it'd be nicer for Camden if I hadn't decreased another few stitches. Also, I will admit to pure laziness: I should have done a sewn bind-off on the hem and sleeves, and I did NOT :O And....I should have. Ugh, but oh well. I tried to bind off loosely, but that sewn bind-off would have reall helped out for cuff turn-ups and such. Not a huge biggie, but I should have followed the directions, LOL.

It's a lovely, soft merino sweater, and Camden does find it cozy! I was a bit silly and made the drawstring too short (btw, THIRD attempt making it...even THEN still too short). Next time, I'll make sure to do another four inches in length.

I'm super excited about this sweater, too, because I planned for it in a colorway that would work for Tiberius. I know there'll come a day when I'm moving even slower with knitting than I already do, and I'll be glad I planned ahead. I do hope, though, that this sweater fits Camden through Fall of 2016 ;) I did make it longer for that reason.