On Monday night I decided to cast on something new that wasn’t another mobius scarf, so I looked at my Rav queue. I don’t usually like to have more than two items on the go. Usually that’s a garment and a pair of socks. I’ll sometimes throw in an accessory on top if I’m getting a bit bored, or if the garment and socks are both too complicated for tv or portable knitting.

However, the Ivy League Vest is getting tedious. Mainly this is because I can only knit on it when my back is okay, and as work gets more demanding that happens less and less. I need steady progress to keep my enthusiasm up, and I’m not getting that with the vest.

So on Monday night I grabbed yarn for three projects and started swatching.

I started with a free top-down jumper pattern, but the needle size was waaay too small for the bulky yarn weight specified, and I was going to end up with a jumper that could stand up on its own. The other two patterns were from Wendy Bernard‘s Custom Knits. I wound up looking at the only garment pattern in that book for bulky yarn, the Lion Neck Cardigan:

The yarn I’m using (Paton’s Inca) is more robust than the one specified, and will make this more of a jacket than a drapey cardigan, but that’s fine with me. I’m just loving that I got 3/4 of the way through the yoke in one evening. The perfect antedote for fair isle in 4ply.

The other two patterns I want to make from this book are Pink:

And Slinky Ribs:

Both which I have yarn for, assuming the tension swatch comes out okay. I love top-down patterns. I prefer ones that have good, flattering shaping in mostly stocking stitch or rib over boxy, frumpy ones with fussy stitch patterns. I can see myself enjoying these AND looking good in them.

Looks like this winter I’m going to have a Bernardathon.