Michelle Hunter’s Knit Alongs (KALs) are usually a mystery with several advance clues. For Adorable Ewe, the April KAL, the clues were 1) a baby sweater with 2) a sheep motif.

I expected a raglan sweater, knit on circular needles, from the top down or bottom up AND with a sheep motif in the yoke. Boy, was I ever wrong.

Barnsie, the Bear, shows off the Week One Adorable Ewe baby sweater sleeves

Week One knitting turns out to be — drum roll — two sleeves! Easily knit with simple increases, the sleeves were accomplished in about 3 hours. The HiKoo Simpliworsted knits up smoothly and has excellent stitch definition. It’s good stuff and we have a nice sale price on it right now.

Here are a couple of comments on my Week One Adorable Ewe knitting:

1. WRITE OUT EVERY ROW   Even though the knitting is simple, I still write out every single row. Then I check off each row as I knit through the pattern. Well, actually I use a heavy dot, not a check mark, to indicate that a row is done. The heavy dot can be duplicated for the second sleeve, whereas a check mark is harder to duplicate. Just my idiosyncrasy, but that’s what I do. I like the clarity of being able to put down my knitting at any time, pick it up and, at a glance, know what comes next. My written out rows are simple, straightforward, and helpful.
2.  PLACE INCREASES AWAY FROM EDGE   Michelle Hunter’s directions place the increases two stitches away from the edges, a placement that makes them a design element of the garment. Those little openings that form from using a Make One Left or Make One Right give a kind of eyelet pop to the seamline. They are a nice detail on a hand knit garment and keep the twist of the increase away from the edge.

I’m using Color 24 — Bluebell. It’s a medium gentle blue that stays away from purple or green tints. Just a soft blue, a lovely color to be knitting.

Buttercream, Color 42, is also calling my name. I’m starting a second cardigan in this lusciously, deliciously named color. You know that butter lover’s foodie phrase, “Trust the cow, not the chemist?” Well, I’m a lover of butter, and yellow,  as you can see from this journal page from March.

A sampling of watercolor yellows from Wanda’s journals

Anyway, the second cardi will be Color 42 — Buttercream. Back to the Bluebell cardigan. I’m planning to put a gray sheep on it using Color 38 Seattle Sky.

Bluebell, Seattle Sky, Buttercream

Stay tuned. There’s a sheep in Week Two!

AND if you need the pattern, check out this blog post for all the details and links.