The Snowbird cardigan has been depressing me mightily. It is surprisingly difficult to work on. Aran weight yarn? Thick needles? Stocking stitch? It should have been easy!
In practice, the yarn is really not at all elastic. Each stitch is difficult to form. The whole piece has been quite stiff, and awkward to manipulate. The weight of it all on the cable is causing pain in my wrists. The whole process is very slow indeed and I seem to be making little progress. Not yet at the armholes — and I’m travelling downward!
Time to step back and take a considered viewpoint.
- I am not going to give up
- I want this cardigan
- The characteristics that are making it difficult to knit are what will make the FO a desirable garment
- I have certainly done more work than I think that I have…
- …or, to turn that on its head, there is less effort in front of me than I might have been thinking.
It is true that there is a very long way to go, but I do believe that it is going to become easier very shortly:
- I have just 14 rows to go before I attack the first sleeve
- After that, I deal with less stitches per row
- The total stitch count will go down (from 270)…
- …the sleeves will be decreased as I knit downward…
- …and although the front stitches increase, I’ll be knitting back and front without the sleeve counts in each row
- The whole piece will get bigger and heavier, but will support its own weight on my lap, instead of dangling in mid air and feeling so heavy
- The fabric is becoming more flexible as it gets larger
Here is where we are up to:
I would love to say that I intend to reach the sleeves today but those 14 rows are going to take a long time to execute and I should be limiting the amount of time that I spend doing them on a daily basis, to reduce the pain in my wrists.
It will soon be time to assess whether this project can be completed by 20 July. If not, I’ll draw stumps – and start on something new — and more achievable.