Minimalist Cardigan - FO

I’m excited to present My Minimalist Cardigan, which has to be one of my favorite sweaters so far.

I really loved knitting this sweater – it is the perfect combination of easy knit with an interesting pattern – which is very satisfying. It’s also incredibly classic – which is why I decided to knit it in black. I envision this as the sweater that either stays on the back of my chair at work for cold days or the one I throw on over a top with jeans or a dress.

Mini was also the sad recipient of my knitting downslide. I actually finished this in January but between my ordeal with Dollar and a Half, my downright hate of finishing and my unfortunate downward spiral into apathy towards knitting, this just didn’t get done until now.

Recipe:
Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan, Interweave Knits Fall 2007
Size: 35 ½
Duration:
Start: October 2007
Finished: Knitting: January 2008, Seamed, blocked and finished: July 27,2008
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Aran in black, 10-11 skeins. Love this yarn and highly recommend it.
Needles: size 7
Modifications: Not much, as usual, I lengthened the sweater. I find most patterns walk dangerously close to being “cropped” and therefore ususally add a few inches. In this case, only 1 inch, and only to the back (knit moss to 14 ½ ” instead of 13 ½

Winter Knits in 100 degree weather

There’s nothing like the combination of getting over a chest cold, having the apt to yourself bc your b-friend is out of town, and it being 100 degrees outside to get you focused on a project. Today (and a good chunk of yesterday) was knitting extravaganza in my household.

I had two things on the agenda: to knit Demi and to weave in ends/ block my Minimalist Cardigan. This whole thing started at 1pm and I had a very specific plan. With the aid of NPR, I would knit Demi until 4pm and then start the Mini Cardigan work.

I tell you, Demi is a bear, but a really sweet one. I really am excited about this project, but I wouldn’t call it the most joyous of knit experiences. I’m actually a moderately fast knitter but as mentioned before, at least for me, this requires full attention. It’s getting SO much easier than when I started, but I’m still clocking a 10 -15 minute row depending on it being a WS (10) or RS (15). I know, that’s weird – anyone else ever do that? So if you saw my last pictures (I haven’t knit since), this is what I accomplished in 4 hours. Not much but progress nonetheless.


I have a very specific vision for Demi. When I saw the picture in Vintage Knits – and then all the glorious FOs on Ravelry - I immediately thought that this would be a classic pullover that I could keep and wear forever. It would be for cold winter nights and ski trips and I don’t know, it’s no EZ classic but I kind of have visions of handing her down. It’s this vision that is my motivation.

Anyway, I stopped at 4pm. Again, being weird, I’m very specific like that – but I think only with projects that are a) hard and b) are in the end weaving/blocking process. Both of which I was dealing with.

Anyway – I am SO excited with Mini Cardigan’s blocking status!

I looked back and I think I finished this 6 months ago. I don’t know what it is but I just stall at the finishing stage, at least lately. I loathe this part. It’s a process, right? At least for me it is but I’m starting to think I make things harder on myself than necessary. I always seam it up pre-block, using some contrast color. And then I inspect it for a few days – determining if things need to be lengthened during blocking, or seeing which areas need to be smoothed out. And then I get all mathematical and draw diagrams about blocking dimensions. Maybe if I just chilled I would not have sweaters sitting in WIP piles.

I wished that I loved summer knits because I think I need another project to switch off with Demi. Have you seen Jared’s squishy blanket? Love…..

Hibernation

It’s been another long hiatus here at Katyaflutes - there’s been work, weddings, travel, a really miserable start to the Michigan football season, but none of these things would matter if I was actually inspired.

I’ll cut to the chase. The Dollar and a Half Cardigan has nearly killed me. Okay that may be a bit dramatic but it nearly killed my knitting spirit, which I think is much worse.

Here’s a picture of the seductiveness.

No matter how much I tried, how seriously I took it, and how focused I remained, I could not get past the front decreases. This is meaningless to most of you, but for those who knit this sweater, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

I spent every day and night on that decreasing business for 2 weeks straight and it just wasn't working. And I just couldn’t take it anymore. And so I walked away.

Knitting is supposed to be relaxing, exciting and fun. And this wasn't any of those things. And to add insult to injury I am a monogamous knitter – I can’t start projects until I finish the last one so I was being punished even more because I had to stick it out. PLUS my previous project was the Twinkle Sausage Shopping Tunic. It was easy but it early threw me over the edge when I actually tried it on at the end (and looked like, well, a sausage). I know there is a lot of love out there for Miss Wenlan Chia, and I agree- the designs are amazing. But like I know very well that I have no business wearing hot pants, I need to face the fact that I have no business wearing Twinkle designs either.

Back to the story... So I don’t know what happened but I guess about 3 weeks ago, after month break, I decided to give it a go again. And while it wasn’t easy – it sort of fell together much more easily this time and now I’m almost done with the sweater. And I honestly have blocked out all the badness of those weeks of pain. Probably like Lindsay Lohan wants to forget that she binged on alcohol and cocaine while wearing an alcohol ankle monitor and basically became a total disaster, I just want to forget those painful nights of frogging and trying again. And kind of like how she’s not 100% past it because she had to go to rehab for 6 months – I’m not entirely over it as I still need to block and seam it.

Here she is almost done (mind you, after all this angst, I refuse for this to end badly, and hence I loosely seamed this up in advance such that I know exactly how much I need to blocking)


But, to me “seaming” is like slow motion falling over the finish line. To me it’s practically a FO.

Which brings me to this:

Above is the greatness that is the Minimalist Cardigan from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I found this on Ravelry as pretty much 50% of knitters are either knitting it or have it in their queue. It’s fairly clear why – it’s cute, it’s simple, it’s classic and it’s a plain cardigan with a little bit of style.

This belongs on the back of my chair at work. My office goes from hot to cold and back all the time and this is perfect for that.

I will be knitting it in Rowan Cashsoft Aran in black. It’s kind of weird to knit a black cardigan (isn’t that a “staple”?) but shut up – I want to do it. I found this yarn at Purl (where I also finally saw Joelle!) and what’s great about Purl is that they swatch every yarn they sell so you can actually feel and see what you’re buying. I fell in love immediately. Similar to the Misti Alpaca it’s warm but totally flexible (hangs well vs being stiff) and is super soft. Plus – er, it’s machine washable. Craziness. I bought it at Jimmy Beans Wool (sorry purl but with a $3 savings per ball, how can you blame me?) and got it today after ordering on Sunday night. Heart that.

Enough already! Am I trying to make up for lost time? I have knitting to do!