"Green Man" (details)

The “Green Man” cardigan was finished couple of weeks ago. Since it was the object of a KnitAlong that I’d instigated I thought I should show it off to help Kathy and Cindy get theirs finished.

The design is called the "Green Man" and is taken from the gargoyles in churches and such in Western Europe and the British Isles. It depicts the head of a man with foliage growing from it. Supposedly he represents "renewal" or "the cycle of life". He's seen, or rather someone dressed like him is seen during festivals in the Springtime. He goes by a lot of names but in England where I was born he’s known as the Green Man, look carefully at the photo of the back and you’ll see his head in the center.

I used commercial yarn (50 wool/50 cotton) I finger painted one skein with Jaquard Acid Dyes for the design. It was knit without any seams; starting across the top of the shoulders and including the sleeves and using a provisional CO then working down using short rows for the sleeve shaping. When I had worked down the fronts done to where the body began I removed the provisional CO and picked up the stitches. I then worked the back to the same point. I placed all the stitches on one needle and worked the body. The sleeve seam was grafted making the whole thing seamless.

This was the first time I had ever used the two-handed Fairisle method. As the design didn’t go from one edge to the other I also needed to master doing it two handed on the purl row. I was pretty clumsy at first and it did take quite a bit of time to get comfortable with it. Now I’m eager to do more Fairisle knitting. So eager that I picked up the Summer Issue of “InKnitters” because it has an extensive Primer on Steeking.