Celtic Critter Cardigan Breakthrough

When last we spoke about the Celtic Critter Cardigan I had come to a screeching halt.

After knitting about 15 rows I had become convinced it was going to be waaaay to big. There would be no way to know for sure until it was done since I'm knitting it bottom-up in pieces.

I couldn't face the possibility of doing all that work for it to come out wrong.

I also couldn't face the prospect of re-working the math.

This paralysis was an issue on many levels. First, I want the sweater. It's going to be really cool and I have to use the yarn for something. Second, people are asking about it. ugh.

When I saw Pam and her sister over Columbus Day weekend they were like, "Simple. Put it on a lifeline and you'll get a better idea of how big it is."

Um, why hadn't I thought of that? But I haven't acted on it yet because I've been busy.

Proper Comparison Top
Then this morning I had an epiphany.

All my sweatshirts (all three of them) are in circulation now that I actually have to walk the dogs in the morning rather than just releasing them into a fenced yard.

Today I had on a sweatshirt and was walking around thinking, "This thing is frakin' huge!" Granted, it's a size large so I would expect it to be huge. But seriously I was swimming in it.

Which made me wonder how much ease it had and how that would compare to the ease I was calculating for the Celtic Critter Cardigan.

When I started the design process I used a leather coat I like as my guide garment. Of course the fit and drape of a leather coat is extremely different from the fit and drape of a knit coat.

I should imagine there is a difference between a sweatshirt and a knit coat, but they are probably more similar than leather and fabric.

Anyway, I get home and measure the sweatshirt and it's around 40 inches at the bottom with the elastic pulling it in. The CCC is planned for 44 inches for the bottom hem!

Now the body of the sweatshirt is around 46 inches and I'm planning the cardigan for 35, so that doesn't help much.

The sleeves, which is where I was really noticing the extra fabric, go from about 12 inches at the cuff to 20 inches at the upper arm. I'm planning for 11 at the cuff and 14.5 at the upper arm.

I'm going to be swimming in this cardigan!

Mission Statement Revisited
Now the goal of this sweater is to make an outer garment I can wear over shirts and such when it starts to get chilly out. But these dimensions are ridiculous.

I had put my pajamas back on in order to crawl around on the floor measuring the sweatshirt. I thought to myself, "Hey, these pajamas are loose without being overly big."

So I tried on the pajamas and the sweatshirt over first a polo top and then a turtle neck. I really think the pajama dimensions are going to work. Not that I've measured it yet.

However, I'm going to keep the length of the sweatshirt.

Yes, I do realize this means I have to rework all the math. sigh.

On the bright side, I got these really cool pewter buttons for the cardigan at Rhinebeck from The Rams Horn.

Can you make them out?

The Welsh Dragon and some Celtic Crosses! The knots on the far right are the ones I had orginally bought. They will have to find a life on another top.