Grandpa Cardigan

In an amazing turn of events, I actually met the deadline of finishing this cardigan by the weekend. Perhaps the facts that pattern was easy to memorize, the WIP (work in progress) looked promising, and that I desperately needed for a new cardigan to wear around the house, helped move things along faster.
On the other hand, the tubular bind-off all over this cardigan, took much longer than the simpler bind-offs. Thankfully, I am not averse to Kitchener st, and managed to get it done.

 The finished cardigan looks quite nice with all the cables and has a nice fit too. The pattern was well-written and easy to understand. Sleeve construction technique was new for me but it went smoothly. I am a bit skeptical about the tubular bind-off, that it might stretch out of shape. It has not happened yet, after one evening of wear, but I am watching out for it. The other thing, I have doubts about is the collar, which amounts to only a semi-shawl collar. It works fine for me, but in case anyone wants a true shawl collar, one should add more short rows.

My little assistant helping with the photo shoot.

The yarn is our old faithful acrylic, warm enough for our weather and easy to care, (not to mention, inexpensive and readily available).
Next up, before I get back to the boring aran pullover, I hope to knit a pair of gloves. No more cables for now, It is time for some colorwork.

KAL Update

 

All the slog over the past two weeks has paid off, and I am happy to report that I am done with the body of the grandpa cardigan and nearly half the way through the first sleeve. The tubular bind-off, at the lower edge of the body, took its time but gave satisfactory result. I hope to get this cardigan done by the next weekend, inshaAllah.

Grandpa KAL and more

The Winter brought with it, the seasonal illnesses into our household, namely cold, flu and associated respiratory problems. The youngest two members of the family were affected and last week consisted of hospital visits and caring for the little ones. Thankfully, they seem to be on a mend and I am again able to take stock of the world beyond antibiotics and bronchodilators.

On the knitting front, the aran sweater that was giving me trouble, continued to live up to its reputation as I ran short yarn. When all my efforts to procure more of the same yarn failed, I decided to take a risk and get some instead in the exact shade of color but different weight. I try to knit the sleeves with the lighter yarn, held double and hope for the best. Soon.

 

Meanwhile, I embarked on a KAL (knit-along) with my long-time friend Shells. We did many a KALs in the past, but none to recently. This time, we are knitting Grandpa cardigan. Although, the start has not been perfect, Shells finding the selected yarn a bit thin for the pattern (she bogs about it here and here) and I getting caught up in kids' illnesses, still I have high hopes for this KAL. Hopefully, it will provide us much motivation and fun.

At this point, I have managed to knit this top-down sweater to a point beyond the armholes. Ahead are long pattern rows with relatively little shaping, in other words, a slog. And that is just where I wish to be, knit-wise, at the moment.