I haven’t done much hand knitting since I bought my knitting machine in 2020. But last winter, inspired by the projects being shared in the PJ Discord group, I got the itch to pick up the needles again. Knitting is such a relaxing pastime for me, and I’ve missed it! Crocheting larger things with repetitive patterns is relaxing too, of course, but most of my crochet is small amigurumi, so it doesn’t have that same relaxing rhythm. And here’s the result:

Hello! Look what I knitted!

I started this sweater in 2019, based on my ribbed sweater design that I’ve made a couple of times before: the green cardigan in 2015, and the teal pullover version in 2017. My concept for this pink version was to use a lighter weight yarn and a narrower all-over rib pattern to make a more lightweight version of the same basic design.

But my progress ground to a halt: the yarn felt a bit rough on my fingers so the knitting wasn’t a lovely tactile experience; I wasn’t sure about the pink colour (bought on sale), and I got bored with working on it. I hadn’t even decided whether this piece was going to be a sweater or cardigan when I abandoned it, with the back mostly done and nothing else even started!

I picked it back up in February, finished the back and sleeves according to my original plan, and decided on a v-neck cardigan for the front.

After seaming the pieces together, I tried on the cardigan and decided it was slightly more fitted than I’d like, so I decided to make a slightly wider buttonband to give it a tiny bit more ease at the front. One of the benefits of designing as you go is getting to make last-minute customizations while you knit!

I also added a design improvement from my first version of this cardigan. When you wear a cardigan, the buttonholes typically want to pull away from the centre, which means the buttons don’t sit in the middle of the buttonband when the sweater is buttoned up. I countered this effect by offsetting the buttonholes to be set away from the edge of the band instead of centering them on the band:

L: The buttonholes are offset to the left side of the buttonband
R: The buttons sit in the centre of the buttonband when the sweater is buttoned

I wasn’t sure about using metal buttons on a knitted sweater, but I wanted small buttons to match the scale of this sweater, and I had dozens of these buttons in my stash (from a thrift store find of a giant bag of mixed buttons) and I wasn’t keen on making or buying special buttons for a cardigan I wasn’t even sure I’d like. Note to self: pullover sweaters are much faster and easier when it comes to finishing!

In fact, I had so many of these buttons that I decided to use a second of the same button as my anchor button on the inside of the sweater, even though they’ll never be seen. And I like the end result with the metal buttons – what do you think?

Once everything was completely finished with all the ends woven in, I tried it on properly and quickly realised that my usual design choice of making extra-long sleeves to keep my wrists warm wasn’t really appropriate for a lighter summer-weight sweater… I briefly considered unravelling a couple of inches from the ends of the sleeves, but turning up impromptu cuffs is easier, and looks fine!

And the end result of this project is just that: fine. I like it well enough; it fits well enough; the colour is nice enough; the feel is nice enough; the buttons are good enough… While I’m not wowed by anything in particular about this sweater, it’ll be a useful addition to my wardrobe for those in-between weather days, so I’m calling that a win 😉

Best of all, this project has been a good re-introduction to knitting for me. Now I’m looking forward to starting my next knitting project, to keep my hands occupied once the gardening season ends!