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Paulie
I’m finally getting around to making the Paulie cardigan. This is the last of my cool weather knits before I focus on summery things. This was just a disappointing winter for knitters in Texas. It was cold for maybe one day and that’s the day I accidentally forgot to carry a sweater. Now, it’s 90 degrees and I’d like to actually use what I make.
So, I’m inaugurating Spring with one mammoth order from Knit Picks that should cover all of my summer knitting plans. I know that I’m supposed to be using up the dreaded boxes of cheap yarn in my garage, but it’s all hot, scratchy, or in odd amounts, and I just haven’t been able to force myself to knit the eye lash yarn cat bed, you know?
No, for this summer I want linen, silk, and cotton. I’m thinking of making Umbre Lovre, Romp Around the Clock (I know it’s a romper, but it just looks like so much fun,) maybe Chiton, or the Make Up Your Mind Tank. There’s Traverse City, possibly Roxborough Dolman, or Finishing School. And thanks to road trip knitting sessions and my children’s summer camps, I may actually finish them all.
In fact, when I looked at my projects page recently, I realized I’ve really been cranking out the sweaters and such this year. It’s been something like 1.6 finished projects a month.
So… Paulie. It doesn’t really look like it sounds, does it? Not only is it my last winter knit, but it may be my last spontaneous yarn buy for a while too. I seem to always be running to a chain store for whatever last minute, cheap yarn I can find enough of that will work for a pattern. I rarely plan ahead. That’s why I settled for this Premier Serenity charcoal yarn. It’s okay, but it’s so thin that I’m having to double it where I wouldn’t have to with most other fingering weight yarn. This makes the fabric a little denser than I’d like and means I may run out of yarn before I’m finished. Thus, the vicious cycle of last minute trips to a chain store for cheap yarn continues.
The green, on the other hand, is Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool and from my county’s first locally owned yarn shop. That was a long time coming. Spontaneous yarn buys are okay there.
It’s taking size 1 needles to get a stitch gauge close to the pattern. Even so, my gauge is still off by one stitch per inch so I’m knitting the x-small size for more of a small fit. I’m trying it on as I go and the fit seems right enough.
I’m also following one knitter’s advice and adding a purl stitch seam down the sides and sleeves to help the sweater retain it’s shape, like with the Caramel cardigan.
Okay, my post of a million links is over. More on my Flickr and my Ravelry.
oooh you're making paulie!! how did i miss that? that sweater is on my list too!! 🙂 i love the color combination you're making it in.
Severian, this one is on everyone's list, I think. And every single finished Paulie on Ravelry looks really good!
hmmm i just can't decide which sweater i want to knit first, caramel or paulie. since it would be my first sweater-project, i'm thinking caramel… no button holes and the construction looks easier. but paulie is sooo cute.
I see what you mean, Severien. Caramel is easier to knit w/o buttonholes and if you don't carry the CC yarn along the side, but Paulie is still really straight forward. I think I'd go for the one I can envision myself feeling most excited to say, " This is my first sweater ever! " about. It's kind of sentimental. I think mine was Big Sack Sweater, and I am still so proud of it and wear it because it's a classic design.