sand, waves & a sweater.

Coming to Tofino, BC, during the storm watching season has become a little bit of a winter tradition for M & I. He loves the photography opportunities and I love the long walks on the beach. The dogs just plain love it – they are so tired by Day 2 that we end up with 2 very sedate, happy dogs. There are very few people around at this time of year, which means we can walk them for hours off-leash and not worry about them jumping on people to say, “Hello!” (which I must admit is a bit of a problem – they love people more than other dogs!).

Last week, prior to setting out for the ferry, I cast on a sweater with very high hopes I would have it finished for this week. I used favourite stash yarn and knit like the wind. My gauge was way off for this project so I cast on for the XS, which would give me a 37” bust when finished instead of the 32” per the pattern. I have to say this sweater might be my new favourite thing ever.

Pattern: Tinder by Jared Flood

Yarn: Cascade Ecological in colour 8016 (cream, natural/undyed)

Needles: 5.00mm for body; 4.5mm for all ribbing

The only modification (other than gauge) was that I lengthened the sweater to 19” – although I suspect when I re-wash it and block it properly when we get home it will be closer to 20” or 21” long. The 8 buttons are $1.99 wooden ones from Gina Brown’s in downtown Vancouver. They were absolutely perfect for this simple sweater.

A note about my gauge for this if you are thinking about using Cascade Eco as well. When I washed my swatch and laid it out to dry, it was huge. The waffle pattern stretches out a lot since it is a modified rib.

I decided to re-wash the swatch and throw it in the washer on the SPIN cycle and see what would happen since I generally do this with all of my sweaters anyways (and no, I don`t wrap the sweater in a towel – I just throw them in for 12 minutes). It was also large, but not so large. I knit based on this second gauge (15sts per 4 inches; 5 rows per inch). If I were to just wet block this, it would be about a 40” bust when dry.

I finished this the day after we got here (I failed in my attempt to finish prior!), so in these photos, I haven’t washed and spun it yet but as you can see – I wouldn’t want it to be much larger as it is already a perfect fit. I have to wash it though as it’s FULL of sand! Happy knitting :)