Greetings from sunny, springtime Brooklyn! I’ve managed to wedge myself between the Lower Manhattan skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. How about that?

I’m proud of my red wool coat and all, but it’s time to bump it from the top of the blog. Snow, be gone! In its place, I present this spring outfit. It’s a new Hetty cardigan paired with my Colette Chantilly dress from last year.

Hetty was a quick knit. And, yes, I was rather pleased about naming it Hetty White (okay, so the yarn isn’t exactly white, but I’m going with it). I’ve been wanting a light neutral to pair with colorful spring outfits, and I believe this’ll do the trick.

I should’ve fixed the cardigan for these photos so both sides would be sitting evenly. C’est la vie!

I bought this lamb’s wool yarn from the 3-Corner Field Farm booth at the Union Square Greenmarket last fall. It was the only yarn they sold. To be honest, I wasn’t that crazy about it while I was knitting this cardigan. It would go from not properly spun to worsted weight to fingering weight back to worsted weight, and on and on. There were also bits of hay in it, which I kept having to remove. I know these characteristics are natural in some yarns, but I think I might stay away from them in the future! In the end you can’t tell the yarn varies in thickness, so that’s good.

Since my row gauge was off, I just knitted down to the length I wanted and then switched to the bottom band ribbing. I ended up knitting the sleeves with as many rounds as the pattern calls for, which means the sleeves are longer than they should be. I liked this length.

The stitch pattern was very easy for me to remember after a few times. As you can see, you do it over and over and over and over again.

Here’s the trick: stitch markers! The stitch pattern is six stitches, so I placed markers…you guessed it…every six stitches. I learned this tip from Rue de Renards, and it made all the difference! Some knitters mentioned having a hard time keeping track of the pattern. With these markers, I knew that if five or seven stitches remained after knitting, I had accidentally subtracted or added a stitch. Quick fix rather than having to frog a bunch of rows.

Another thing that helped me memorize the pattern was knowing that a YO happened before an SSK and after a K2TOG, and on either side of a PSSO. You’ll see what I mean when you look at the stitch pattern. Other than two rows, the stitch pattern is just stockinette.

Here’s the cardigan with five buttons buttoned up (the sixth one was off duty). I don’t think I’ll wear it like this, but here it is just the same.

I made a mistake when I picked up stitches at the neckline. The part just above the buttonhole band starts a stitch in from where it should, so the two bands don’t match up. This means the buttonhole on the neckline isn’t in line with the others. As a result, I didn’t put a button up there.

Speaking of the buttons, here they are! I only had six of these on hand, so I suppose it worked out for the best that the neckline buttonhole (the seventh) didn’t pan out. I can’t remember where I found these. Either I thrifted them or they were part of a package of buttons my friend gave me a while back for my birthday. In any case, I’m glad they’ve found a home!