Finished my black cat yoke sweater just in time for the cold snap

Five weeks for a whole sweater is genuinely fast, especially with a colorwork yoke in there. My first stranded project took me most of a winter because I kept stopping to untwist my floats every few rounds, then I read about catching the working yarn every three or four stitches and it completely changed my pace. I also went up a needle size for the colorwork sections after my first yoke came out dense enough to stand on its own, wich was humbling to unpick but worth it.

The thing that helped me most with tension was holding one color in each hand instead of both in my right. My left hand kept the dark yarn loose and my right handled the contrast, and suddenly my floats stopped pulling the fabric in. Blocked my gauge swatch before and after and the difference was a full stitch per inch.

I made a yoke sweater with autumn leaves instead of cats last year in a rust and oatmeal combo, so your color pairing is speaking to me. Did you do any length adjustment for the yoke depth? I always end up adding half an inch or so because I like a bit more ease across the shoulders, and colorwork charts seem designed for people with narrower shoulders than mine.

I'm the opposite on pacing, five weeks would be a sprint for me. My last colorwork cardigan took me most of a summer because I only work on it a couple nights a week and I rip back a lot when the tension gets wonky. Nothing wrong with slow, the sweater waits either way.

On the floats, I never got the hang of catching every few stitches. I hold both yarns in my left hand continental style and just let the floats run long behind, then I tack them down with a blunt needle on the inside after every few rounds. It adds a boring half hour at the end of each session but I stopped getting puckered fabric, which used to be my whole problem. I also do my colorwork yokes bottom up so the difficult part comes while I still have momentum, not at the bitter end when I'm sick of the project. Curious wheather the cat motifs were charted or something you worked out yourself, the arched ones sound fiddly in the best way. Blocking question too, did you wet block it or steam it? My rust wool bled a little on the cream last time and I've been nervous about dark shades ever since.

The part of cat motifs that always trips me up is the arch itself, since the float has to span the curve while the stitches beneath it are pulling in diferent directions, and if you catch the strand too snugly the cat's back goes wavy instead of round. I stretch the fabric vertically on the needles every few rounds now, which shows a too-tight float instantly. Also curious whether you steam-blocked the yoke or just soaked the whole thing, beacuse the colorwork section always relaxes differently than the stockinette body on mine.

I'd push back on the needle size advice. Going up a size for colorwork made my last yoke go sloppy and loose, the floats got all loopy and caught on my thumbs every round. I keep the same needles and just focus on spreading the stitches out on the right needle before working the next one. Different hands behave differently I guess. Did the cats come out crisp for you at your usual size, or did you have to fiddle with anything there?

This is making me want to try two colors at once. I attempted a scarf with little diamonds once and the inside ended up a tangle of loose loops, so I gave up halfway. Never even heard of catching the yarn as you go untill reading this thread. Does the inside of the sweater look messy where the colors switch over, or is it all flat and neat when you turn it out?