Questionable Chromatic

For months, I've been thinking about knitting a sweater or top. Our lives have been so crazy with our upcoming move that I haven’t been up for spending either the money or the time on choosing and buying yarn for such a project. As I was looking through my stash recently, I realized that a shopping trip might not be necessary.

Last autumn, I ordered eight skeins of Cascade Yarns Cascade 220® Fingering to make a pair of stranded colorwork mitts. The pattern called for six colors, and I added black and gray to the order in case I changed my mind about the background.

As the yarn originally arrived, snugly packed in a padded envelope.

I used up about half of the blue in knitting the background of the mitts, but very little of the other colors. I didn’t end up using the black or gray at all. All together, I had enough yarn left in my stash to make an adult sweater.

I spent some time searching through Ravelry to find a pattern that would work with multiple colors. I was thinking stripes rather than stranded colorwork for two reasons:

• Stranded colorwork uses more yarn due to the yarn that gets carried over behind the stitches. I wasn’t sure if I had enough yarn to allow for that.
• The yarn carried behind the stitches would also create a warmer sweater. That’s not ideal because we’re moving to a warmer climate.

As I searched, the pattern that I kept returning to was Chromatic by Tin Can Knits. The stitch pattern is made for stripes while the shifting rows add a little extra visual interest. It’s lacy and open without being overly revealing; I could wear it to work with a camisole underneath. And I’m discovering that the pattern is easy to follow and knits up quickly.

Based on my measurements and yarn gauge, I making a size ML with needles one size up from what the pattern calls for: US-6 (4 mm) and US-4 (3.5 mm). I’m alternating the black and gray for the Master Color, and the rest of the colors for the Contrasting Color. I’ve decided not to use the white yarn; it stands out too much against the deeper colors.

To be honest, I’ve been questioning the colors a bit. Starting at the neckline with yellow and black put bumblebee images in my mind that set the project off on the wrong foot. In addition, the shifting stripes are very pronounced prior to blocking and that gives it a checkerboard look.

However, I’m going to keep going. I feel confident that once all of the colors come together and the sweater is blocked, the overall look will work. Time will tell if I should have gone shopping instead.