The Wowligan

When I saw the Wowligan (the "wee owl cardigan") pattern by Kate Davies, I was in love. I adore knitted owls, I adore cabling (a good combination!), and I adore little girl sweaters. I'd purchased four skeins of Knit Picks Galileo yarn in "Gosling" ages ago, intending it for a sweater for Rosa. It matched the pattern requirements, so I started this as soon as I finished my Left Bank Cardigan. 

Oh, love! Where to start? The yarn was luscious to work with -- 50% merino, 50% viscose from bamboo. It's silky and wonderful. The pattern was also a treat! It's knit bottom up, so I had a lengthy period of "knit, knit, knit." Then you knit the sleeves... Then you attach everything at the underarm and keep going. 

In retrospect, I'd add stitches to the cast on for the sleeves, and reduce the number of increases. The cuff fits Rosa,
but I'd prefer if it were a little roomier.

Then, at last, the owls! At first I was going to reduce the number of owls (and even did the math and knit a few rows that way), but then I realized that the "dead space" between each owl is basically the wrong side of stockinette stitching. It looks fine with just two stitches between each owl, but looked a little odd with ten stitches. So I frogged back and knit the owls as instructed. 

At this point, I've opted not to add button eyes for the owls. For one thing, I didn't have enough tiny buttons. For another, I was a bit concerned about the effect of SO MANY BUTTONS around the yoke. Looking through the finished Ravelry projects, I saw some that I loved, and some that I didn't. I'm happier with a "subtle" owl, so there we are. I might go back and stitch some eyes with a darker yarn, but that's not likely. 

I found three perfect buttons in my stash -- They're the same taupe-grey as the sweater, with hints of mauve and teal when they catch the light. Understated, like the owls.

I need to work on my "banding" skills, since I still can't figure out how to pick up stitches. Pick-up-and-knit
I can do and I've made it work for me, but I'd really like to get the hang of just plain picking up stitches!

The only real problem I had with this sweater was that I nearly ran out of yarn! Perhaps my gauge was larger than I thought (I'm horrible about swatching!), but I realized shortly after adding the sleeves to the bodice that I probably wouldn't make it to the end. And having purchased the yarn about two years ago, there was almost no way I'd find some in the same dye lot. I made a desperate decision to omit about 8-12 rows at various points in the rest of the pattern (some before the owls, a few "in" the owls, and perhaps one after that?). The pattern photo showed the yoke coming up pretty high on the model's neck, so I took my chances that this approach would work. To my relief, it did! I had very little yarn left over at the end, so I think I made the right choice here. The sweater is a tad roomy on Rosa, so it will perfect for this year -- and maybe next? I can't wait to see her wearing it.

This sweater only took about 40 days, which was encouraging! I think I'll be starting on another "selfish sweater" soon, using some mohair yarn that I purchased over a decade ago, during one of my optimistic "I'm REALLY going to knit this time! REALLY!" phases. I've come close to getting rid of it so many times, but I think it's actually going to be used now. It would feel good, you know?

But first, some tiny baby socks, because socks are something I want to try and who can say "no" to newborn socks?


Raveled here.