Project Share – Pink Fizz

While I’m working on another toddler sized Oxbow Cardigan for my niece I thought I would share a project I recently finished.

This Pink Fizz sweater by Andrea Mowry was the most challenging pattern I’ve worked on but it came out better than I could imagine and I love to wear it. I started this project in May 2022 and finished it at the end of September 2024. Part of why it took so long is because I had a few other projects on the go at the time (my friend and sister both got pregnant that year and I made both their girls little cardigans) and then that August I was pregnant. The first trimester I was really tired and didn’t feel my best so focusing on a complicated pattern really wasn’t the best idea. So the project sat on standby for a while. I was able to work on it a bit in the second trimester but late in the third I got carpal tunnel and really couldn’t do a whole lot with my hands until after my baby girl arrived. Once she arrived I had zero time for myself let alone knitting so it waited a bit longer until this spring. My daughter was no longer contact napping after one year and not waking 50 million times before I went to bed in the evening so I actually had a bit of time each day to work up some rows.

The yarn I used was Concept by Katia, Aire “Baby Alpaca & Superkid Mohair” and Silky Lace “Merino Extrafine-silk”, both in a beautiful soft pink colour. This yarn was so nice to work with and feels very soft and warm. Although the sweater seems light it is actually much warmer than I expected.

Although I’m usually a size 1, this is the 4th sweater I knit from Andrea Mowry and find that they can be a bit tight in the shoulders for me. Because of this I sized up and knit a size 2 instead. I’m so glad I did. It is roomy but soo comfortable and doesn’t look like it’s too big at all.

From what I can remember I did have to frog it and start over pretty early on. It took me a while to get the complicated stitches down and regularly checking my work before getting too far ahead of myself. For the parts I was struggling on I found these videos incredibly helpful although they are all in French. My French is extremely limited but I was able to watch what she was doing and figure it out from there.

There were a few times I had made a mistake on the lace and absolutely dreaded having to frog back an hour or two of work. Thankfully I discovered lace surgery while scrolling on Instagram from Romidesigns. It saved me multiple times with this pattern and it’s something I will definitely use in the future. I guess I like to live (or knit) dangerously and really can’t be bothered to put in a life line so this trick is amazing.

The only alterations I remember making that were different from the pattern was an adjustment on the sleeves. Instead of picking up the recommended stitches for size 2 I picked up the number for size 3 and also made it shorter than recommended. I had knit one arm with the recommended size and length and decided to block it, just to see. Something felt off. I’m so glad I did because it was sooo long for me and very tight which just didn’t make sense or feel right to me. I redid the sleeve and it was perfect.

Knitting this sweater again put me out of my comfort zone but the things I learned with this pattern gave me even more confidence that I do in fact know what I’m doing and I can do hard things.

Overall I would recommend this pattern to a more experienced knitter or someone who isn’t afraid of a challenge. Once you get the hang of it it does work up fast enough but you do need to pay attention.

I think I’ll go put it on right now!