The Start of Something New

A curly knitted swatch on circular needles sticking out of an cake of orange yarn.

Ever have your heart set on using a specific yarn for a very specific pattern? I have these past few weeks.

The Balsam Point Cardigan (<Ravelry Link) by Kerri Blumer came across my radar recently, and I love the cropped style and neat details. This sweater is something I’d wear all the time. Since I’m shopping my stash (AKA Yarn Fort) first, I stumbled across three skeins of Araucania Nature Wool in a beautiful orange. I love this discontinued yarn and was happy to finally have something to do with it. There was a problem though. Balsam Point calls for an aran weight yarn, and Nature Wool only claims to be an aran weight yarn. No harm in swatching though, right? Well, it didn’t work out. I got row gauge, but stitch gauge was way off. I’d have to go up several more needle sizes to get close, and the fabric was already looser than I’d like for a sweater. So, this yarn gets to hang out in the stash for a bit longer.

A hand holding up a giant hank of green wool yarn in front of a green brick wall.

The Nature Wool wasn’t the only option in the stash though. I’ve also been hanging on to a couple of skeins of Cascade Eco+ since 2011. Originally, this yarn was going to be an Owls Sweater (<Ravelry link), but there’s not quite enough yardage for that. There’s plenty to swatch and make Balsam Point with a little left over. Wish me luck. If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to dig through the stash a third time for this sweater.