FO: Kingscot

Another project from my pre-baby to-do list has been finished - this time the Kingscot cardigan:

The pattern was published in Twist Collective Winter 2008(!) and I bought it not long after being the Norah Gaughan fan that I am. In fact, I cast on for the first sleeve in August 2009. The pattern has been a favourite all along and so has the yarn (it's the same as I used for my all time favourite sweater, the Cabled Spiral Pullover (Rav link) - which happens to be a Norah Gaughan design, too!). So why did it take me two years and four months to finish this?!

Well, you can read the details on my Ravelry page, but the fact is that I started by knitting one sleeve, then spent ages (aka approx. 6 months) worrying that it was too small and the fabric was too dense even if the tension was spot on. After a good wash it turned out everything was fine so I went on to knit the second sleeve. I reckon this was finished in the late spring of 2010. I have documentation that in September 2010 (more than a year after casting on) there were still only two (washed and blocked) sleeves.

I then went on for a year(!) thinking about how to tackle the construction of the body. I knew that I wanted to do the following moderations: (1) no cable pattern on the back - in fact, a plain St st back would do nicely but that meant I had to CO a different number of stitches than in the pattern because the tension was different, (2) I wanted less A-line shaping - but should I then do increases on the front as some Ravelers had done or should I just make it straight and leave out decreases on the back? In the end I ended up with a combination: Increases on the front and no shaping on the back, and (3) I wanted buttons all the way down the front (the easy one). All these considerations made me turn to other projects instead. As we would say in my field of research, the activation energy for picking up this project was simply too large compared to all my other projects! 8-)

In August this year I finally picked up the needles again, this time determined to finish it. As Siga suggested in the comments for one of my recent posts, it must be nesting. From there everything went along smoothly: I started with the fronts, doing a few increases by the side seam to make it straight rather than (too) A-line and enjoyed the intricate cable pattern. Having done that, I could use these pieces to calculate the width of the back and thus the number of sts required. In September, both fronts and back were done, attached to each other, and I'd knit the neckline. I then went on for a few months procrastinating about the button bands before finally casting on for these two weeks ago (the arrival of the baby is approaching!).

After the final blocking, I picked out 4 different sets of button candidates and made DH choose the ones he preferred without telling him which ones were my favourites. Fortunately, he chose the same! So here it is with pink buttons, bringing out the slight purple tones of the blue yarn so nicely. As you can tell from the creases on the sleeves, I've already worn the cardigan - to work (which is where the photos were taken to exploit the minimal amounts of daylight even if the photos don't show), two days in a row to be exact. I think it's going to be a wardrobe staple making the 28 months long process completely worth it :)

Pattern: Kingscot (Rav link) by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: The same as ÅLJ (Rav link), but produced under the mill's own label. The colour corresponds to (the sadly discontinued) colour 53 of Tvinni and Spinni in the Isager collection.
Needles: 3.0 mm, 3.25 mm, and 3.5 mm.
Mods: Several. See my Ravelry page for more details.