Gray Cascade 220, take 2

This weekend is my sweetheart’s birthday. And, this week I’ve been trying to wrestle with my needles to finish his gift before the big day. Finally, today I finished up and asked him to show off his sweater in the glorious sunshine.



Some of you may recognize the gray cascade yarn 220 from another sweater I made for S… Gasp, yes, this yarn was recycled from the sweater I made him for our wedding.



My unwanted knitting habits came into play when I made S his wedding sweater. A lot of guessing and not enough measuring turned this sweater into a gray swimming pool on S. It makes me smile that he still wore it on our day…



After a year into our marriage, we tried shrinking the sweater (bad idea). Two years in, after a long conversation about what the symbolism behind unraveling his wedding sweater could mean, I took the plunge. Six balls of unraveled gray cascade yarn 220 later, I decided I wanted to make S something that would both fit well and stand the test of time.



Last December we came across this picture of Big Alfred, a design by Britta Wilfert. S is very particular about his sweaters so we were happy to find one we both liked. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the pattern for sale anywhere. So, I attempted to do something I’ve never done before but have always wanted to try—knit a sweater without a pattern.

The stitch pattern on Big Alfred was perfect for our now wobbly washed out wool. And, with the help of my friend Raderle and my sister, I was able to figure out how to create basket weave. (Thank you friends.)





The photo of Big Alfred and a basic raglan sweater pattern acted as my guide in this creation process. Once again, I found myself in a guessing game...arbitrarily casting on stitches then unraveling the ill-fated outcome. However, on this gray cascade 220 take 2, I took the time to stop and measure. Most importantly I learned to be patient with the process--after all, my desired outcome comes with a lot of strings attached.



Hm, I think (almost) 33 looks good on S and so does his (sort of) new sweater.