Beekeeper in 34 days

This is the second post in a row that could start with "you know, I'm not a joiner."  But since I kind of DID join, maybe this is less true than I think.  My friend (and my daughter's future mother-in-law) Andrea sent me a Ravelry message -- she was going to do this knit-along.  Did I want to play along?  The knit-along was Marie Green's 4 DAY knit-along - you can read about that here.  The sweater was the Beekeeper, by Marie Green.   Ann, at Andrea's local yarn shop, Yarn Folk, was going to order in some of the Knitted Wit yarn used in the original sweater.  I like doing business with Ann, and MY future son-in-law had given me a gift certificate from her store last Christmas, so there was that.

So, I did it, and I didn't.  I tagged my project on Ravelry, and joined the Olive Knits Facebook group, where I was somewhat overwhelmed by the all the chatter.  I didn't think trying to finish a sweater in 5 days (the actual time allotted to my size) sounded all that fun,  even if you WERE allowed to spread your 5 days over the July 1 to July 15 timeline for the knit-along.  Andrea *did* do it.  As did Ann.  This is very impressive!  My personal goal was to finish the sweater in July.  I didn't quite manage that, but on the way to visit some friends in Montana on August 3, I finished the last sleeve cuff and wove in my ends.

This is how it looked, pre-blocking, when we arrived.  I did buy the yarn from Ann, using Tim's gift certificate.  Knitted Wit Polwarth Shimmer, in a color called Carbon, is 85% Polwarth (that's a sheep breed) wool, and 15% silk.  As you can see, between the yarn and the stitch pattern, the sweater relaxed quite a lot with blocking.  It's knit at what I think is rather a loose gauge for this yarn.  The result is a light-weight, drapey sweater.  I'm curious about how it will wear.  It feels lovely on, so I hope I won't regret knitting it so loosely.  Marie designed the sweater FOR the knit-along, so quick knitting factored into some of her design decisions.  Loose knitting can make for pretty new sweaters, but sweaters knit more firmly tend to wear better and longer.


I ended up doing tubular bind-offs on the front, neck and sleeve edges, and a sewn bind off on the bottom.  This isn't a choice you'd make if you were committed to a quick knit, but it does make for a nice finished edge.  

Thanks to the cool mornings and evenings of western Montana, I've actually worn my new sweater (blocked on a spare bed at our friend's place) a couple of times.  I like it!  I think I'll wear it quite a bit come October or so.  I chose the color mostly as the best among the unclaimed colors Ann had ordered, but I've come to love its semi-solid shadings and the mediumness of this gray.  I'm glad Andrea invited me along on this adventure.

Beekeeper Cardigan

• Pattern on Ravelry 
• Knit in size 38 on US 7 and US 5 needles
• Knitted Wit Polwarth Shimmer, 4 skeins, Carbon colorway.  85% Polwarth wool, 15% silk,  300 yards/4 ounch skien, DK weight.  From Yarn Folk in Ellensburg. 
• Designed by Marie Green.  Marie is proud of the fit of the shoulders on her top-down designs, justly, I think.  
• Knit between July 1 and August 3, 2018.
• My Ravelry project page is here.