Salaam. . .along

Emma's Revolution is one of my favorite groups from a little music festival I go to in August. . .Peace, Shalom, Salaam is one of their most moving pieces. . .check it out.

But I digress.

A friend recently poked me and reminded me that I was ignoring the blog--but honestly? When have I really paid attention to it? I have the best of intentions, but seem to be short on time. Thanks for the motivation Kim T. . .and thanks for letting me know that at least ONE person cares about what I think!

Another friend has asked that I help her upsize the Shalom Cardigan. Both of us have made it once already--mine in a size large enough for me, hers as written. Making the changes to a pattern to have it fit properly can take a bit of math, but isn't really hard. The original calls for a bulky yarn and about 425-475 yards. I made mine out of some handspun--maybe a heavy worsted, and had about 650ish yards. . .I'll get a picture up tomorrow. . .

The new version I'm making won't really be a Shalom, but will use that as a jumping off point for style, since it seems to look so great on so many bodies. . .but will be in a dk-lt worsted handspun. For this, I have about 850 yards. . .should be enough, but I'm a risk taker. I figure I'll do a bit of lace for the yoke instead of the twisted rib. . .I'm thinkin' it will work.

Wanna play along? Kim W? Are you reading?

Here's how you play. Get your yarn and needles, and cast on a big ol' swatch. Honestly. You need it. Mine was knit, washed, and is drying on the napping couch right now. Make your swatch a good 7 or 8 inches square--we'll use it for both stitch and row gauge, and you want to make sure it's pretty accurate. A larger swatch will also give you more information about the drape of your fabric. For me? I want it to be a bit drapier--I used a size 8 needle.

While you're waiting for your swatch to dry, you can pull out a stitch dictionary if you want to make it a Salaam Cardigan, or if you like the original Shalom Cardigan, I'd suggest reading the pattern closely. Either way, you'll need to print out the directions for that. . .and get some notepaper, a calculator, a pencil and your thinking cap ready to go. You can find the pattern here.

That's all. Go knit.