Recoleta Cardigan

This cardigan and I have had a year-long adventure together, quite literally. I started it last year on my annual knitting weekend, not realizing how much brain power it would take me to knit from two different charts (one for the collar, one for the back). We would go in fits in starts, this cardigan and I. I’d knit a few rows here and there, then it would be abandoned for weeks on end because I just couldn’t find the energy to focus on it. It only got worse once I started back to college, and the project sat for months waiting for me to come back to it.

Once I realized I was coming up on the one-year mark on this project I realized I really needed to get moving if I wanted to cast on any OTHER sweaters for winter. So I made a plan, wrote out all my chart rows in my knitting journal so I knew if I was knitting row x on the collar I was also on row z on the back chart so I didn’t have to think about anything more than I had to, and then just… knit. And knit, knit, knit. I worked on this sweater ALL weekend last weekend and even brought extra yarn with me thinking that I’d get it done and be able to cast on my next project. I didn’t manage to get it done, though I did get down to just one sleeve. Which left this last week and weekend for finishing the sleeve, weaving in ends, and blocking the whole thing out.

And, so, a year later, this cardigan is FINALLY finished. It’s gorgeous and warm and, honestly, was a wonderfully well-written pattern. My ONLY complaint is that the arm holes are a bit snug/tight, and some of that is that I gained a lot of weight since I cast this on a year ago, but my arms haven’t grown THAT much and if I were to ever knit this again (and I totally might once life calms down) I’d knit the next size up or, at least, figure out how to increase the arm holes more before dividing off.

Pattern: Recoleta
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash in Indigo Heather