Cardigan Progress

This cardigan really has a history! I think I’m going to like it a lot but I won’t know for sure until it’s finished . . which is close but not happening for a while.

First, I started it in the spring of 2018. Doesn’t that seem like a lifetime ago . . before the pandemic, before the shutdown, before Hurricane Laura hit Lake Charles . . even before Vince retired. Oh . . those were the days, right?

The pattern is kinda cropped and I wasn’t sure I wanted a cropped sweater but since it’s a cardigan, I had planned to wear a longer shirt under it and wear the shirt out so it hung down past the cardigan.

I started it and it was before we had lost weight and I definitely didn’t want it cropped and tight so I made it bigger. I had gotten maybe four inches of it done and for some reason, I put it away. I’m sure it was because I found a new, exciting project to start, and that one probably never got finished either.

This cardigan calls for bulky weight yarn and I was using Cascade Eco + so I only needed three skeins but for some reason (I’m unorganized!), I never managed to keep the three skeins together. I really do usually keep everything in a knitting bag but I’d find a skein in the extra bedroom and then I’d find a skein under the bed in the third bedroom. When we realized we were seriously going to be moving, in early August, I put all three skeins together with the sweater and packed them in a bag to be a project I worked on til it was finished.

I measured what I had done and realized it was going to be too big – much too big, even though I have gained some of the weight back. I convinced myself that was ok and began knitting but after about three inches, it was obvious that either my tension is different or the twist I’m putting on the stitches is different because there was definitely a “before” section and an “after” section and the stitches looked different enough that I knew they weren’t going to look right even after blocking so I ripped it all back and started over.

For two months I have worked on this project a little here and a little there.

Last night, I could have finished except there are three sections – left side, right side and collar section. I need three “below gauge” needles in order to keep from putting a lot of stitches on waste yarn. “Below gauge” is 5.5 mm needles and I have one with me so . . I was able to do part of the right side ribbing but that’s as far as I got.

Also, I need a darning needle to close the underarm stitches and I don’t have one with me so this project is now back in time out til I get back to MO with more needles.

I debated about taking it back to Texas and finishing it there but I have plenty to work on there so it’s going to stay here.

I’m really pleased with the progress I made on it while here. I can’t wait to finish it, block it and try it on!