Am I in the right place?

Long-lost Lolly here! [hehe]

Evidently, I'm knitting faster than I can post because I have knitted lots of things I haven't posted about. I guess I'd rather knit than post. But...hey, here's something that is pretty amazing, and if I don't post it quick, it won't be true or newsworthy anymore.

I am the first! And as of this morning, the one and only!

"The one and only what?" you ask.

The one and only person on Ravelry to start knitting the #03 Short Sleeve Cardigan, which is featured in the Vogue Knitting, Early Fall 2010 magazine. I'm noticing now that in the magazine Vogue calls it "Mid-Length Cardigan," but it is the #3 pattern.

I like this pattern! Am I the only one? It's a loose sweater. Surely, I'm not the only knitter who wants a loose-fitting sweater. It must the name. The #03 Short Sleeve Cardigan. Sounds boring, right? I guess Vogue just isn't into fancy names. Looking through the Early Fall magazine, all the patterns have plain names. The most exciting I can find is "Parachute Top." Now we're talking! That one has 4 people knitting it!

But I like the #03 Short Sleeve Cardigan and I've started it! See?

That's the left front, and even though I'll probably have to rip back...no, I'll probably frog the whole thing.... because it's too wide. The yarn I'm using, Sirdar Click Chunky With Wool is a little bit larger than what the pattern calls for. I did a gauge swatch, knitting only the 3-st repeat, as the pattern suggests, that makes the cabled ribs on the right side of the above swatch. Instead of getting 20 sts per 4 inches, I got 19. So, I thought if I knitted the Large size specs, I'd be okay (you know, since I like LOOSE sweaters.) But, while I had a size 9 needle for the 1x1 bottom edge ribbing, I didn't have a 10 circular for the body, so I used a 10.5. That made it too big.

For awhile I was thinking that since my yarn was a little heavier, I should use the larger needles so the knitted fabric would not be too dense. But in order to continue with the 10.5 needle, even knitting the Small size would be too large. I would have to cut back on all the stitch counts and since I'm already doing that on another sweater that I started a month or so ago, I just wasn't ready to give myself that much extra work! This chunky yarn works up fast, and this could be a quick knit, if I don't have to do a total stitch-count and row-count revision.

As of this morning, I now have a #10 circular and have knitted about 1 and 1/2 inches on the beginnings of one sleeve. The resulting fabric seems fine. My major concern now is that the sweater will not have any drape. That's why I decided to knit one of the sleeves, asap. Being a short sleeve, I can knit it, wash it and block it, and see if it's going to lay okay, or if it's going to stick straight out like cardboard! I hope it will be okay. I bought this yarn over a year ago, on sale, and I bought a lot of it.

This past January I finished a little Owlet sweater for my granddaughter, for which it did fine!

But this sweater, the #03 Short Sleeve Cardigan (in case you had already forgotten) is different. It needs to hang. Actually, since I don't like hugging sweaters, I think this yarn will be just about right for this loose "swingy" jacket. The magazine doesn't even show a back view, but Ravelry has one.

There's a non-traditional construction feature, where the fronts extend over the shoulders and are sewn together at the center back. Could that be why people aren't jumping on it? I think that's pretty cool! As soon as I knit this sleeve, I should know for sure whether to continue or not.

I do so hope it works out!