The Knitting Fiend

Naughty Cat!

Orange puss was up to no good. The cat had obviously jumped into my yarn bag, stolen my balled up Cascade Quatro and high tailed it to the room Jim is painting. Jim, who is not a knitter, and is unaware of the harm yarn can cause cats, was tempted to let him play. I told him to take the yarn away. (But, since Orange was not swallowing yarn, I took a picture first.)

Cascade Quatro Swatches

Both the yarn and the cat are doing well.

Despite maltreatment, the Cascade Quatro cooperated as I knit swatches. The swatch on the far right is knit single stranded with US size 6s; I achieved a gauge of 4.44 st/inch and 6.86 rows/inch. That’s looser than Cascade recommends, and I think they are right. If I decided I wanted my garment knit single stranded, I’d whip out my size 4’s and try for a gauge between 4.5 and 5 st/inch. The swatch on the left is double stranded, and knit up at 3.31 st/inch and 4.86 rows/inch on US size 9s. I like that weight.

Both look awesome. The bright teal flecks stand out from the darker olive and drab beige; this the effect is bright without overwhelming.

I’ve decided I want to make a nice jacket weight cardigan to wear on my morning constitutionals when spring finally arrives. So, I’m going to knit the yarn double stranded. (As a side benefit, at the heavier gauge, I’m even likely to be able to wear this by Valentines day! That will be terrific, since, I plan to order up the red-orange-pink version of the yarn.)

I do have a question for people: I have most of the hank of Cascade left. While waiting for the red-orange-pink yarn should I:

• Design and knit another hat?
• Knit mittens?
• Relegate the yarn to the stash and get back to the zig-zag afghan?
• Do something else?