Finally!

Here it is! I'm so proud!

Pacific Coast

Pattern: Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers
Yarn: Shibui Merino Kid
Needles: US 4
Project Page

I love this cardi! I did have a few issues with the yarn when I began: it shed like a little green bunny, it turned my bamboo needles and my fingers green, and it wasn't quite the right gauge. After looking at finished pictures, I realized the bigger gauge was perfect because then I wouldn't look too big for my sweater. The green fuzz vacuumed right up. The green needles got a rubbing alcohol scrub and I learned how to set dye: soak for 20 minutes in cold water with 1/2 cup of vinegar, bag in an oven bag, set on a cookie sheet, put it in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes, let cool, wash in tepid bath with wool wash, and voila!

Really, I probably could have just rinsed the excess dye out of it (which I ended up doing in the post-cook bath), but I'm glad I took the precaution with the vinegar bath too. I wore it over an expensive white Banana Republic shirt all day yesterday and no green stains! Just green hairs. :)

I don't think I modified it at all. The sleeves are even knit to the prescribed length, I think. Finishing was easy. I HATE twisted rib, though. Goodness, it took FOREVER. But it looks really neat. Love the bound-off detailing on the hem and the sleeve cuffs. John helped me pick the buttons. He's a genius button-picker!

I named it after our trip to Washington in the spring (during which the yarn traveled in the back seat, waiting to be knit and returned home in exactly the same state). The yarn varies in color between the trees of the Olympic Peninsula and the water of Crescent Lake. I miss the Pacific Northwest....

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