Gauge the Situation: The Fingering Sweater Revealed!

Don't you feel it gives some ballast to your titles when you add an exclamation mark?

OK, don't want to drive you crazy with anticipation :-) so here's the sweater I chose:

The Princess Jumper

 And here's a little preview of the knit, so far:

Remember, it's unblocked and this yarn really needs blocking (as my gauge swatch revealed). It's not this fuzzy or uneven seeming when blocked.

A word on the yarn:

I'm using Jade Sapphire Mongolian cashmere in 2-ply. It's a light fingering and those plies like to untangle on a regular basis. This is not the easiest yarn I've ever worked with. It's as princess-y as the sweater it's making. For starters, it comes in hanks which, I've read, are not machine windable because this yarn snaps like a bitch. I can confirm that it breaks pretty easily as evidenced by the fact that, after laborious, 2-person hand winding (my husband acting like an umbrella swift and I taking on the role of the skein winder) I discovered that you can't pull this yarn from the centre of the ball. Instead, I'm working from the outside, which is kind of a pain.

I'm a fairly loose knitter so I haven't had any problem with the yarn snapping as I knit, though it's challenging to keep my tension even given a) the small needle, b) the very light as well as thin yarn and c) a concern about being too tough on it.

I haven't got to the upper chest of the sweater front, as yet (the part with the TW4 pattern) but I hope that I'll be able to keep that nice and even as it involves knitting 3 stitches around a fourth stitch which takes a certain amount of tension on that 4th stitch. I've done it on the back placket and it seems to be working fine, though more practice will improve my outcome, I hope.

Happily there are no mid-ball yarn joins to worry about and given that one ball is 400 yards of yarn, there's very little mid-knit joining of any sort. Not that it's difficult with this yarn.

Elizabeth Zimmerman said that, if you want to save money knitting, you should knit in fingering-weight. For starters, it takes a long time to get through any project with such skinny yarn but for another thing, fingering weighs less than just about anything else. It's cost-effective. Of course, it's not so cost-effective when you spend $150.00 on pure cashmere (on 40 per cent off sale?!) but Cascade makes a yarn called Heritage which is part merino and part silk which is very affordable and quite lovely. Springy and tight, not too drapey from what I can tell. You could make this sweater for 40 bucks using that yarn, at full price!

I have wanted to use pure cashmere since the day I started knitting, and I only just feel ready for the challenge. Thing is, I'm not sure if I love it. Really, I can't say as yet. I might like something less plied or more robust a bit better than this 2-ply stuff. And, given that it's kettle-dyed, I'm knitting small variations of grey throughout the fabric. That's not really my thing, a variation on variegated, but I'm trying to see it for its artistry rather than its rustic-ness.

It depends on how this thing hangs when it's all put together - and it's a 4-piece seamed knit so it's going to be a while before I know.

I do believe that the delicate yarn is strengthened by the knitting, so I'm not concerned about wearing it.

My rationale for knitting the Princess Jumper:

I've been considering which sweater to use the cashmere on since the summer (when I bought the yarn online). I do LOVE vintage sweaters, especially those re-interpreted by Susan Crawford. My Jan Sweater, the second thing I ever knit, was a Susan Crawford pattern and I love it, if not on me. Note: Since I made the Jan I've learned a lot of things about knitting and sizing and fitting and fitting with knits etc. So I don't recommend the Jan for someone short-waisted and busty. But it's just a gorgeous design...

Anyway, while it didn't excite me, on first glance, as much as some of Susan's other patterns, the Princess Jumper kept coming up when I considered making something sleek and fitted and "pin up" but with an edge of work-place conservatism.

Though it's super-fitted, I like that the "cables" are above the fullest part of the bust. (Pam - you called it when you said I would avoid the Sun-Ray because of the boob-attention it would provoke.) And I really love how the shoulder shaping is tight. I have small, narrow shoulders and reasonably slim arms and it looks good on me when a sweater really fits in that area.

Furthermore, the photo of this sweater makes it look as if it's been knit with a yarn that has similar properties to my Jade Sapphire. In fact, I suspect it was knit using Susan Crawford's rather less-delicate yarn, Excelana, which I've tried (and love for it's vintage colours) but which isn't soft enough for my fussy tastes.

So, what do you think of my sweater choice, given my rationale? Do you like the fabric or is it too rustic for you? Have you worked with this yarn and, if so, what are your thoughts. Let's talk.