Coast to Coast Sweater

Last week, I received my Myrtle Yarn advent calendar in the mail and that got me thinking about the one from last year. And that I have used already!

Getting the new box also reminded me that I haven’t shared the project I made here yet: my Coast to Coast Sweater. Well, I mentioned it briefly in a previous blog post about jumping into new techniques in the middle of a sweater instead of trying it out first with scrap yarn or a gauge swatch. (And no, still haven’t learned that lesson.)

Last year was the first time that I ordered an advent yarn calendar. And I decided to start with a box from one of my favourite dyers: Myrtle Yarn.

Kara’s 2023 advent calendar was named Coastal Yarn Advent. Last fall, she shared some inspiration pictures for her colourways on Instagram and I was hooked. So I took the plunge (pun intended) and ordered my first advent calendar.

But what was I going to make with it? A lot of the patterns I found were for mittens, socks, and scarves but I really enjoy knitting sweaters. And I was hoping for a pattern that would show off all 25 colours in one project instead of just a few.

And then I found the Radvent Cardigan pattern by Ambah O’Brien. Ambah designed this pattern with a 25 mini skein set in mind. The original pattern has you starting with colour 1 on the left sleeve, work across the back, and then finish with colour 24 on the right (the main colour is reserved for the button band, hem, and cuffs).

I tweaked the original pattern slightly because of the coastal theme of the yarn. I wanted the depths of the ocean to be in the middle of my back. So I started each sleeve with colour 1 and had colour 24 meet in the middle of my back from each side.

The colours starting the sleeves are the coastal ones with names such as Pebbles, Sand Shells, and Crested Waves. And then the darker colours were named for the deepest and most mysterious parts of the ocean (Marianas, Midnight Zone, Luciferin).

I thought that doing it this way would show off the colours of this particular advent box better. And it had a symbolic reason for me too as I moved from Europe to Canada. I’ve got the whole Atlantic Ocean between the two countries I call home.

It was such a fun knit. I had never knit with so many colours in one project before, but I loved it. It was hard to put down my project as I wanted to keep going and start on the next colour to see how it would knit up. I knit both sleeves at the same time so that I finished one colour before starting on the next and wouldn’t risk the “second-sleeve syndrome.” (Is that a thing? Or just for socks?)

I finished off the cardigan with wooden buttons from The Woodlot. In my mind, the wooden buttons were the driftwood that washes up on the beaches on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The end result is simply perfect. If I say so myself. Myrtle Yarn’s yarn and colour scheme is absolutely stunning. And the pattern shows it off so beautifully.

I was a bit worried before I started this project that I might not wear a sweater with that many colours very often, but thankfully I was wrong. I’ve worn this sweater so many times already. It’s quite a light sweater as the yarn is a fingering weight—think more of a spring/autumn layer than a winter sweater. So it’s slowly going out of my sweater rotation at the moment but I am already looking forward to warmer weather so I can wear it again!

This year, I was planning to get another advent calendar but from a different dyer this time. To mix things up a little. But then Kara from Myrtle Yarn shared her inspiration pictures for this year and that was all that was needed. . . I bought her yarn box again. She named it the Garden Shed Yarn Box this year. And it comes with 5 mini skeins for each colourway inspiration: Earth & Soil, Florals, Greenery & Succulents, Fruits & Veggies.

I can’t wait for December 1 so I can start opening the little packages!

Have you ever bought an advent calendar box? And what did you make with it? Or did you get too overwhelmed by all the colours and is it still waiting for you in your yarn stash? If you are unsure about what to do with your calendar, I highly recommend the Radvent Cardigan pattern.

Tot de volgende keer,
Evi