A tartan in texture

Apparently not even months of semi-self-isolation are enough for me to stay up-to-date on this blog. I’m sure there’s some irony in the fact that I’m using my free time to knit and crochet rather than write about knitting and crochet. So now that we’re in the muggy depths of sultry summer, let me tell you about a nice warm sweater I finished back in February.

I bought both the pattern and the yarn for the Highlander cardigan back in 2010. I saw the sweater at a vendor’s stall at that year’s Shepherd’s Harvest and bought the pattern right there and then, although I didn’t get the yarn until later. I then managed to not start working on the sweater until 2019. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to make it as that I wanted to make other things first, and the next thing I knew, nearly a decade had gone by. 😅

You’d think a pattern made almost exclusively of knits and purls would be simple to knit. Ha. It was difficult to see the tartan pattern against the dark yarn (yes, I know, I know—I should’ve chosen a lighter colored yarn), and the pattern kept shifting subtly. Even though I memorized it fairly early on, I was constantly counting rows and stitches, trying to make it all come out right. Somehow I didn’t even notice the sweater had cables until I was casting on for the bottom ribbing. The body is knit from the bottom up in one piece, with cables taking the place of side seams. You divide at the armholes—the side-seam cables split and continue around the armholes—and then knit the sleeves and sew them in later.

*Why yes, that’s snow reflected in the glass behind me. I said I’d finished this sweater in February!*

Although I appreciated not having to sew side seams, I’d forgotten just how long rows take when you’re knitting the front and back of a sweater simultaneously. The pattern is written in good detail, which is really helpful when you’re trying to coordinate cables and cardigan fronts and set-in sleeves. And let’s not overlook the sheer joy of starting and finishing a sweater that had been in my queue for 9 years!

Highlander
Pattern: Highlander
Yarn: Knit Picks City Tweed DK
Colorway: Morning Glory
Needles: 3 (3.25 mm), 4 (3.5 mm)