sweater > sweat

I suppose that since in the dead of winter I find myself longing for warm summer days, it seems only fitting that in the middle of a heatwave I cannot stop thinking about cool fall breezes and layers of wool. About knitting and baking. About a peaceful night's sleep without the low hum of the fans working overtime.

It hardly feels right to complain, but extremes at either end are difficult to tolerate. So, I patiently wait for a break in the heat and humidity, dreaming of wool sweaters.

I've barely touched my knitting in the past couple of weeks. When the heat came, it came with a vengeance and promptly pushed any desire to knit out of the way. That hasn't stopped me of planning, though. I realized that I don't have enough (any?) winter cardigans in my closet. Since I'm cold from late October until early May, this seems like a ridiculous situation for a knitter. So, I spent a couple of hours browsing Ravelry, finding options for a new sweater. I already had a specific yarn in mind (both for its price range and its wide colour range) and knew that I wanted a fairly fitted sweater that would be versatile enough to wear to work or with jeans. I wasn't completely satisfied with the last sweater that I made for myself (a good thick stay warm in winter sweater that doesn't fit well), so I want to be more careful in my choice this time. After much looking, I narrowed down it down to five potential patterns (there are a whopping 1,697 women's worsted cardigan patterns listed in Ravelry!).

Here's my shortlist, in no particular order:
1. February Lady Sweater by Pamlea Wynne
2. Que Sera by Kirsten Kapur
3. Minimalist Cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum
4. Girl Friday by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark
5. Sienna Cardigan by Ann E. Smith
6. Chiral Cardigan by Coralie Meslin (a last minute addition to the list after seeing the Fall Interweave Knits preview)

I have 5 skeins of Cascade 220 7822 (Vandyke Brown), which should be a sufficient amount for any of these sweaters knit in one of the smaller sizes.

My initial thought was to pick a pattern from those five six (I am leaning toward Que Sera or the Minimalist Cardi). I think instead I will swatch for each one and see which pattern I like best with the yarn. I figure it will be a while yet before the heat subsides and I can actually bear to have a pile of wool in my lap, so going through the process of swatching and blocking might be the best option (and I might actually come out with a sweater that I'm pleased with).