I have thought for a couple of weeks that I would have a sweater to show you. This cardigan has been on my needles for years. It feels as if it’s been in process since time began, but that can’t be the case – the pattern was published in Vogue Knitting in a 2003/2004 issue.

It’s supposed to be knit in a 100% wool called Zara. I remember looking for the specified yarn at the time and finding it pretty expensive. So, I did a yarn substitution – I knit mine in Butterfly Super 10 cotton in a wonderful dark teal. This means that the resulting sweater is much heavier than it would have been in wool, but that’s okay with me. What slowed me down in the knitting is that cotton has no stretch, and you really notice that when knitting cables. I kept putting this sweater aside to knit more enjoyable projects, even though I really liked how it was working up.

I had to block it after it was done before sewing the pieces together. (Yes, you’re supposed to do that every time, but I tend not to.) There was no choice here because the seed stitch pulled up shorter than the cables on each piece. I’m still sewing the beast together, even though it’s been off the needles for over a week. It looks as if I might have to pick some of the seaming back because I can’t figure out how to make the collar fit. The neckline seems too large for the collar piece. Hmm.

So, maybe next Friday I’ll be able to show it to you, finally complete.

The good news is that it’s a sweater for transition seasons, so I should have it done just in time to wear for spring!

Update – here it is! I had forgotten that the collar didn’t extend over the button bands, then it just had to be eased slightly across the top of the saddle shoulders. All good and all done. 🙂