Here’s a project I have on the needles right now, which I’m loving to bits. This is the Sweetheart Cardigan from Rowan, knit in Kidsilk Haze Stripe in the Forest colourway.

This is the back.

It’s fine knitting, but I really like how the colours are evolving. Not exactly striped, but not exactly not-striped either. I’m letting the stripes evolve as they come off the ball, instead of letting my inner Fussy Knitter manage them into matching. The left front, which I’ve cast on now, starts with the green. The right front, looking at the ball, will start with the red. (I will deal with this and love it. I will.)

The button bands are knit separately from the fronts in this pattern, and I didn’t want another gradation of colour up the fronts. So, I decided to knit all of the edges in solid navy Kidsilk Haze, which I had in my stash. That means casting on in navy on fronts and back and sleeves, then using the navy up the fronts and around the neckline. I’m not sure that it’s precisely the same navy as in the stripe, but there are so many blues that it looks okay.

Also, I found some buttons in my stash (ha ha!) that are abalone, with similar blues, greys and greens. Some of them even have a glimmer of a reddish tone. They are smaller than specified by the pattern, so I think I’ll use seven up the front instead of five. Not sure about the specified three on each cuff. I’ll have to see what it looks like.

What do you think?