Spring is finally starting to hint at its arrival here in the northwest. There are buds on all of the trees, and it’s actually almost light out when I’m driving to work! This means that cold-weather knitting is winding down, and it’s time to satisfy the need for something a bit lighter. Since I was also eager to try out the amazing new yarn Billow, I figured that a nice open-front cardigan would be just the thing for Spring!

Ever since we got the first samples of Billow, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. We passed the initial swatch around the office and the feeling was mutual. What really amazed all of us was how light and soft it was, and that the thick-thin texture gave it almost a handspun look. With all of those qualities in mind, we chose a color palette that really suited the softness and character of the yarn: subtle and elegant, bridging Winter and Spring.

For my sweater I chose the color Comfrey, since one can never have too many purple sweaters. I knit it at a slightly dense gauge, owing to my propensity for getting looser knits caught on things, and I am really pleased with how the texture looks. Billow does amazingly well in seed stitch!

What I found really fun is that over the larger portions of Stockinette, the regular patterning of thick and thin actually created something of a moire effect.

So far, this has been such a fun yarn to work with. At such a bulky gauge, this sweater whipped up in no time, and only used 7 skeins. I can’t wait to do another project in Billow!