Spring Cardigan is a hip length cardigan knitted with one strand of hand dyed speckled 4 ply yarn and one strand of bare (undyed) 4 ply yarn. Both strands are held together when knitting to give a gauge of 20 sts and 28 rows per 4 inches which is on a par with a DK Weight yarn.
The subtle effect of knitting one plain undyed strand and one hand dyed yarn together is to give a colour wash effect which is subtle but very appealing. It also helps to minimise the pooling effect that you can sometimes get with a hand dyed yarn.
The pattern could also be knitted using one strand of plain undyed yarn and a selection of mini skeins to add extra colours and use up other scraps of 4 ply yarn. The benefit of knitting both the fronts and the back to the armhole at the same time, helps to allow for this.
As you will see from the photos, there are different colour versions in which I have used my own hand dyed yarns but you could easily mix and match your own yarns or use up some of your purchased hand dyed sock yarn. One version was knitted in pure merino 4ply held together and the green version was knitted in a normal sock weight of 75% wool and 25% nylon. Both versions are very comfortable to wear against the skin. You choose what your prefer yarnwise.
Please read through all the instructions before beginning to knit and as usual it would be advisable to knit a tension swatch in the pattern to ensure that your gauge is correct.