So I improvised a cardigan

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Well, I never intended to go into a blog silence for almost two weeks, but that ear infection was a bad one. The minimal amount of energy and concentration I could muster had to go into a big editing project (somebody else’s novel). I’m also really sorry for not answering the friendly comments you all left, but I just wasn’t able to find the words to do so. I guess that was a combination of pain, fever, fatigue and probably also because my focus was on Dutch for the editing job. This week, I’ll try to pick up where I left off.

Despite all that, I was able to knit a bit. So last week, I finished my cardigan.

It started as a completely different cardigan five years ago. Back then I thought it would still fit if lost weight, but it turned out it didn’t. I wore that first cardigan a lot the first three years, but when I actually lost that weight, I just didn’t feel good anymore. And so it just hung in my closet. Until I finally got my act together and saved that yarn from ending up in a thrift store. I thought that would be a shame, it was a birthday gift and rather expensive. So I frogged the cardigan last year and started searching for the perfect pattern. But I couldn’t find one, so I decided to improvise it since I did have an image of what I actually wanted in my mind.

It worked. The lace pattern is from an old booklet and for the yoke design I used my favorite knitting book (Knitting without tears by Elizabeth Zimmermann). I love that book. It’s just what I need to help me to improvise the things I make (I tend to prefer not using patterns).

I’m so happy with the result! It fits like a glove and it feels so good to wear. I’ve been wearing it a lot ever since I finished it. On to another three (or more) years of enjoying this yarn…

Linking up with Jeannie Gray Knits’ Makers’ Monday and Frontier Dreams’ Crafting on