The Cardigan Chronicles: Day 107

I hope you'll indulge me as I post about my cardigan again today.  It's day 107, and I'm inching ever closer to my target date for completion (it's this Friday, if you remember).  Thanks to all of you who commented yesterday, and offered both words of wisdom and empathy.  I was feeling so dashed but knowing you're with me here really helps.


Privately, I had two very special people send me incredible notes on how to salvage what I had already done.  My KAL partner reminded me about the notes she made when knitting the sleeves, but I had already taken those into account.  I suppose somehow I still managed to knit more than I needed to in the sleeve cap.  She also suggested blocking the cardigan before setting in the sleeves which is an interesting idea.

Gail sent me incredible notes on the construction of sleeve caps to help me better understand how they should fit into an arm opening and was a true cheerleader in trying to convince me that perhaps all was not lost.


I thought a lot about both what Wei Siew and Gail shared with me and I sat with my cardigan for a good long while last night before I decided to do something completely radical.  Okay, maybe not radical but definitely different than what the pattern calls for.  I searched the Web and found a great tutorial on how to knit sleeves from the top down.

So, I threw caution to the wind, told everyone in my family that I was to be undisturbed, and followed along.

I had to frog back once as I messed up the short rows the first time -- they were not evenly spaced -- but the second time worked like a charm.

There are a few spots that pucker just a tiny bit, but I think that might happen even if I set in sleeves so I'm hoping that once I block the cardigan, the piece will smooth out including the front rib which is pulling up a good inch or so.

I'm feeling so much better this morning and re-energized about this project. Thanks again to  all my blogger friends -- I hope you know how much it means to me that you visit me here and offer me so much support. And to Wei Siew, fingers crossed that we'll soon be able to wear our cardigans at the same time!