There are many comforts in life. Knitting is one of my comforts. In my life it has served as a celebration for new beginnings; balm for a sad, swollen heart; a generous show of love for cherished ones; a source of soothing for my frazzled mind; and innovation for my creative impetus. I can’t imagine my life without knitting. It constantly occupies a corner of my mind, and is a practice I will never give up as long as I am able to wield two sticks and string.

Here is a project that has been on my needles for a few weeks:

Creature Comforts Cardi

Creature Comforts Cardi

It’s the Creature Comforts Cardi by Amy Hendrix for Madeline Tosh. I’m making it out of Tosh DK in Chambray. The yarn is squishy and has the slightest variation in tone as you knit with it. I love the way the leaves are formed in the cable pattern. The cable is enough to keep me interested, but the sides are plain enough so that you can carry on with other things at the same time. This cardigan has been my comfortable companion today as I was home from work with a chest cold.

I’m not following the pattern exactly. I noticed several people on Ravelry mentioned that they did a provisional cast on to make the ribbing all at once at the end to avoid a seam. I’m going for this option, because in the pattern pics the seam on the ribbing is quite noticeable. I’m also scrapping the pockets, because many people were critical of those. There is an afterthought pocket in the pattern. I might consider that at the end if I change my mind.

I would recommend if you use Tosh DK (for any project, really) that you should make sure you have enough for your project. It seems that they don’t have dye lots written on the tags and dye lots can be VERY different. I will not have this problem with my cardigan because I got them all from the same batch, but a customer at the store had to order more of her color and it was much, much paler in a different batch. The lack of dye lots also makes it nearly impossible to find some of the original dye lot. I was disappointed in the first skein when I came upon a knot (grrrr) and there was an abrupt color darkening when I knit past the knot. Luckily, this was toward the end of the ball, so I ripped back and set the darker yarn aside. Hopefully I won’t have to use it.

The nip in the night air has renewed my interest in this cardigan. I also still have Larch Cardigan  and Minimalist Cardigan on the needles from last year and (yikes!) the year before to finish, but as they are out of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light and Berroco Ultra Alpaca, I have less desire to work on them since it is not that cold yet.

Happy knitting.

%d bloggers like this: