whispers.

I finished the Whisper Cardigan back in August but since life was a little hectic and busy, I slung it over the back of a chair and left it until we came back from Oregon. I feel that it’s waited long enough for a proper entry and discussion. Firstly, I used different yarn – therefore, a different gauge and a slightly different look. I am very happy with the results but I’ll get to that later.

1. The yarn. I used Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca Fine in Prune Mix {colour 1284}. I’m not sure exactly what weight this yarn is but I would hazard a guess (at the risk of being wrong) that it’s Sport/Baby weight. I did a gauge swatch and I wasn’t actually that far off in terms of my needle size and ended up going down to 3.5mm, 2.5mm and 2.0mm for the knitting up. Basically, I went down an entire needle size for the whole thing! Not bad.

2. The fit. The Whisper is really cute just the way it is – and I plan to knit one just like the one in the pictures! However, as I am stash-busting right now and using up everything I have before I buy more, I didn’t want to spend a ton of time on the sleeves as I was unsure how much yarn I would really need. Also, if the fit with the different gauge and needle size didn’t work, why in the tarnation should I spend a bunch of time working on beautiful sleeves when it may get ripped? Right. Short sleeves with ribbing on the end as there wouldn’t be the weight to keep them from curling. I did the same at the bottom of the skirt as the yarn was curling upwards really badly, something (from another experience) I knew wouldn’t be fixed with blocking. I liked the look of the corners curling but not the middle of the back hem!

3. The modifications. Even with the change in yarn and needles, I didn’t actually change that much. I was surprised in the end. I only cast on 72 stitches at the first sleeve and cast off 6 for the armhole rather than 8. I knit across the back 11” and did the same on the other side. I was a little nervous about the gather in the middle but it turned out really well on 2.00mm needles. Picking up for the ribbing … I have no idea how many I actually picked up. I don’t ever count when I am picking up because I figure we all knit a little differently and 30 picked up stitchs might look great in the pattern, but I may need only 25 or as many as 35 for it to look as good! It just depends, so I can’t give a number for that. I can tell you that it was a lot! For the skirt, I did the same thing. I picked up however many looked nice. I continued with the pattern and added 2” to the bottom for a slightly longer skirt.

Overall, I am happy with the fit. I really like the colour. I am happy!