Emily Cardigan—Work in Progress

In my last post I mentioned that I had put the Regina socks on hold partially because I was annoyed with how the colour was working up, but also because I had my sights set on a new cardigan.

I really enjoy having a sweater or cardigan project on the go and tend to do socks as a filler. So when I was finished with Pink Fizz and the two Oxbow cardigans for the littles in my family I was on the hunt for my next project.

I had looked at a number of patterns and really felt that I wanted something a bit casual, a challenge but enjoyable to work up, cozy and a bit chunky.

I fell in love with the Emily Cardigan by Emily Greene, found on Ravelry. A beautiful cozy, thick cardigan with geometric cables in a repeated ‘v’ shape up the back and along the front panels, including pockets and a folded collar. It was perfect. There was only one problem. When I went to purchase the pattern it was unavailable and said to be discontinued! After some searching it seemed like I wasn’t the only one disappointed that I couldn’t get this pattern on my needles. I found her on Instagram and sent her a DM asking if the pattern was available anywhere else…

The search continued and I settled between the Cardi Cocoon by Anne Ventzel (all of her patterns are beautiful) and the Maria Cardigan by Miriam Walchshäusl. I ended up purchasing the Maria Cardigan since it was close to the Emily with the structured lines.

But then, I got a response from Emily Greene that the Emily Cardigan was available again! I immediately purchased the pattern and took a trip to my favourite yarn store.

The yarn I went with Berroco, Ultra Alpaca Natural in a natural oat grey colour. I love it. So soft, squishy and so far been really nice to work with.

I’ve been trying to get better with actually swatching before starting a project and because this is technically a cable pattern I wanted to make sure it was right.

After swatching the gauge was true to the pattern so I was ready to get started.

The pattern suggests using a tubular cast on but the way to get it started was so confusing! I realized that ultimately the style of cast on was very similar to how I would start my toe up socks… So using that theory I used Judy’s Magic Cast on to get the yarn on my needles and then continued on with the typical instructions for tubular cast on for 2×2 flat. (I used this tutorial for that part). It worked great and was so much less confusing!

So far I’ve been enjoying this pattern a lot. Although its a cable it’s somewhat predictable and not at all hard to follow. It’s working up pretty quick too which is nice since I don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to knitting these days. I’m excited to keep working on this project and see how it comes together! This is also my first time knitting a sweater or cardigan that needs to be sewn together in the end. The various sweaters I’ve done have worked in the round so this is new for me! Check back soon for more updates!