Nearly There!

It’s been two weeks since I blogged! Where has the time gone? There’s been progress in that time; I’ve been knitting on the cardigan pretty much daily. Interestingly, I really haven’t wanted to work on anything else and that’s unusual for me.

I don’t know if I mentioned it or not but one of the ladies I work with, H, is making the same cardi as I am. She’s making hers in a cotton blend, also from Knit Picks, in the smallest size. Her husband was pretty sure that she’d finish hers before I finished mine and he would probably have been right if H hadn’t decided to modify the sleeve cap. She thought the pattern was wrong.

H came into work this week with her knitting in hand, wanting me to look at it and figure out why it wasn’t looking right and why it wasn’t fitting in to the arm scye. In the end, I told her that I’d have a sleeve finished that night and would sew it in and let her know (and see) in the morning whether or not the pattern was correct.

Let’s just say that I’ve rarely had a sleeve go in as smoothly and easily as that one did. There is nothing wrong with the pattern.

I brought my sweater in to work yesterday, just to show H that she should have simply followed the pattern. Then I told her what I’ve told numerous customers in the yarn shop… trust the pattern! (You can’t always trust the pattern, but Drops has been in the knitting business for a long time and their patterns are pretty good, if a little bare on detail.)

 

I’ve cast on for the second sleeve and hope to make good progress on it this weekend. Once that sleeve is done, it’s just a matter of weaving in the ends and finding buttons. I do intend to block it; I’m finding that the 3x3 rib pulls in so much that I’m afraid the buttonholes will stretch out and I’ll look like a sausage. I just need the ribbing to relax a bit.

At least I know it fits. And it’s looking really good, even if I do say so myself! I think I’ll get plenty of wear out of this cardigan.

Now that this project is almost finished, I’m thinking about the next project. I’ve been poring over the Drops web site, looking for summer cardigans. I’ve found a couple that I like and will winnow it down to one pattern over the next days (or I’ll make them all, eventually). I’ve also found a lacy sleeveless top that I’d like to make and wear as a vest. Which one I’ll start first, I don’t know yet. And once I’ve decided which one to make, I’ll have to decide on the yarn and the colour… Or I could finish something that’s already in the works. Decisions, decisions!