Best. Pattern. Ever.

There is a Norwegian company called Drops which puts out free knitting patterns on the web a couple of times a year. It's a pretty exciting moment for nerdy knit bloggers, when the new crop of patterns show up. The designs tend to be a bit European trendy, but also somewhat classic. And sometimes the two come together for something truly inspired. When this year's Fall/Winter patterns came out, I immediately fell in love with three of them (dare you to guess which three.) The one that I was the most anxious to start is this cute little striped cardigan.

When I finished my Mystery Shawl the other night (sorry still no photos -- I haven't been able to block it yet) I immediately did a gauge swatch for the sweater. (Aside: I had to wait until I finished my shawl before I did the swatch, because they are on the same size needle. I realized at that moment that the last five or six projects I did have all been on that size (3.5 mm) needle. Baby sweaters, lacy shawls, grown-up cardigans... Weird.)

So yesterday morning I cast on for the sweater and started knitting the left front.


Recipe for knitting addiction:

• one part yarn that changes colour so you have to keep going to see what will happen next
• one part soft and silky alpaca so your hands want to keep stroking it and not put it down
• one part mindblowingly innovative pattern that you're not quite sure you understand even when you are in the midst of it, but it slowly begins to dawn on you what you're doing (a la Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket)
• one part knowledge that it will be a gorgeous FO that will almost make up for the fact that the project is over