[NFB-Krafters-Korner] Silver Birch Cardigan Class

[Dorothea Martin]

Hello, Bernice,
I gave quite a bit of thought to this when I ordered my yarn because 
getting the Premier DK Colors yarn meant that I would have to have it 
sent internationally to me here in Albania. Most of the time I just buy 
whatever yarn I can find locally in the same weight class as the 
pattern. However, I looked up the silver birch tree, on which the 
Silver Birch stitch is based and found that this tree has a 
silver-colored bark which looks like it is peeling off in little 
silvery ribbons. This tree also has triangular leaves which turn yellow 
in the autumn. Then I found a pattern for a Silver Birch Leaf hat that 
has a knitted motif like the triangular leaves. I bought this pattern, 
made the hat in the lilac-colored worsted yarn that I bought locally 
for practice and decided to make the sleeve cuffs and the band that 
goes up the front and around the neck on the sweater in this motif and 
in the Premier Yarns DK Colors that most closely matches the yellow 
color of the silver birch leaves. I bought a skein of DK Colors Peach 
Pie for this part of my sweater. Since making the sweater is different 
for each person and will have to be taught as individual tutorials 
after the first two classes, I would be glad to help you if you wish to 
take this approach. Then again, you might wish to make the sweater in 
another color just as I first made the hat that should have been yellow 
in lilac-colored yarn. I would hope that you would try the DK Colors 
yarn, though, because I find it to be the nicest acrylic I have ever 
used. It has been made by some new method so that people who are 
generally allergic to acrylic yarn should be able to wear this. That is 
all a long-winded way of saying that you might go either way.
Dotty