Many years ago, some time in 2017 I started knitting a cardigan. I specifically ordered the softest yarn for it, called Cottonnette by Elle in the colour Suede. This yarn was produced so long ago, that's now been discontinued here in South Africa, I can't find it anywhere.
I think I was "nesting" at the time, I remember I was pregnant with Lory and I chose this pattern with Celtic Knotwork and a hood because it looked cozy and it was heading into winter at the time...the best time to knit is winter - I absolutely love knitting celtic knotwork, aran jumpers and blankets.
Many things happened and becoming a mom to a newborn, the cardigan got put away in the bottom of my knitting bag and it wasn't seen again until recently.
The end of last year was kinda weird for me, it was really busy and I had to box up all my belongings. Including all my knitting gear to go into storage. I decided to take the opportunity to sort through my yarn stash, organize everything, clean it all out removing little bits of yarn that I probably won't use, I put everything back nicely and sorted them into their different colours too.
I then went through all of my "current projects" as well and found the start of my cardigan. Only I had a dilemma...the pattern wasn't with the knitting and for the life of me, I couldn't remember which pattern it was.
After spending about 3 hours looking online for the pattern, I finally found it and downloaded it again.
You can find the free pattern here if you're interested.
I had only completed the back panel and started on what I originally thought was a sleeve, but turned out it was one of the front panels. That confused me for ages, but I got it deciphered and then decided I needed to complete it. There is nothing that irritates me more than half finished knitting projects.
So off I went, knitting away in the evenings after Lory had fallen asleep. It felt wonderful to get back into a project and after only a few weeks I had all the pieces ready to go.
It's not a difficult pattern to follow although I do think that the front and back panels should be longer as it sits very short on me, like right on my hip, I would have preferred it to be about 30cms longer. Maybe I'll do a second one and add on the extra length. The long ribbing can also be reduced if you don't like it (I quite like it long so I left it as is).
I made the hood extra long and wide so that it's slouchy. I found the hood pattern to be quite confusing but it worked out very nicely - it's a shaped hood. It helps to write out all your rows and then tick them off as you go, it's the only way that I can do it or I end up losing my place.
My sister found the zip for me at the local haberdashery and it goes beautifully with the colour of the cardigan. Note to self - I need to try avoid that haberdashery because they have a REALLY nice selection of yarn that I could bankrupt myself on.
If you are wondering ... the answer is YES! I do have two different colour needles and Yes, it drives me mad too don't you worry! My OCD hates knitting with these, but they are the only set of long 4mm needles I currently own. I thought about replacing them, but my mother gave them to me and I just can't get rid of them, even as odd as they are because of the sentimental value.
My mom and I both knitted a lot. It was one of our bonding activities and she always admired my cable work - she said I was way too adventurous for her as she was too scared to try them. She never did, but I know that if she had, she would have been knitting cables into everything. She was masterful at knitting and even though she never actually taught me how to knit and we both knitted different styles (she knitted in the German fashion and I knit the conventional English way), we would always get together and show each other excitedly how our projects were progressing.
I remember taking her to a wool shop once and treating her - we walked out with two massive black bags of wool - one for her and one for me. All the amazing colours you could imaging and enough to knit many many cardigans and blankets. That yarn has been completely used up through the years but I will always remember that outing with her. We were giddy like school children having just raided the local farmers fruit orchard.
I knitted her an Aran jumper once - it was the first Aran anything I ever knitted and it looked so nice on her. I miss her.
This Celtic Cardigan is slightly different and doesn't have quite as many nice stitches, it also used half cables patterns whereas the previous one used full cables. I like them both and I think I'm probably going to end up living in this cardigan this coming winter, it's really snug, cozy and comforting. I think my mom would have liked it.