The endless cardigan

To be fair, the title is slightly misleading. It makes it sound like knitting this cardigan was a painful process. It wasn't. It's a great pattern, simple but with enough going on that you need to pay attention. The stripes are a great motivator because you can actually see how fast you're progressing. But, dude! It's fingering weight yarn! Even if the stripes add up, it's such thin yarn that the length (actually the width, since it's knit from side to side) changes sooooo slowly... Hours and hours of knitting stripe after stripe, and I was still only halfway through the back! I think it wouldn't have seemed as long if I wasn't knitting against a deadline...



I got an e-mail in early January inviting me to a baby shower for a friend from knitting club. I see her regularly at knitting club, but I don't know her that well so I hadn't expected the invitation (but was flattered to be included). Emily was better prepared than I was... As soon as I got back in town after the holidays, I surfed Ravelry for a suitable pattern: a quick knit using yarn from the stash, but still worthy of a baby shower gift. This baby cardigan seemed like the perfect pattern: knit in one piece, so minimal seaming and weaving in of ends would be required. It called for fingering weight yarn, and I have tons in the stash. It had to be gender neutral, so I chose some white Baby Ull and green Fleece Artist Sock Yarn.



I had 10 days to knit the whole thing and I thought that was plenty of time. Of course, I then proceeded to waste the first evening because I cast on with the white yarn first and decided the next day that it would be prettier with a green border and white stripes (I still think starting over was the right decision). So, 9 days to go. I knit and knit and knit every chance I got. On the bus, over lunch, while reading e-mail, and every night. The day before the baby shower was a Saturday, and I knit most of the day. Still, it wasn't meant to be. The morning of the baby shower, I still had to knit a whole sleeve and one of the fronts. Fortunately, I figured that might happen and I had a backup gift (baby pyjamas and bibs). It took me another week to actually finish it. Now it's all nice and blocked, with white buttons sewn on. And the expectant mother will get it this week at knitting club... I hope she likes it!



Pattern: b14-27 Jacket by DROPS design
Yarn: Dale Baby Ull (white) and Fleece Artist Basic Merino Sock Yarn (green)
Needles: addi turbo US 21/2 (3.0mm)
Started: January 9, 2008
Finished: January 29, 2008


I'm really happy with the cardigan! It's cute, and the color combination comes out great! I can see myself knitting another one, but next time I'll make sure I have a three-week time frame...