The Cardigan That Made Me Question Knitting

My first knitted garment was a cardigan from a pattern book.

Looking back, I have no idea what possessed me to start there. The confidence of beginners is truly something to behold.

To be fair, I knew how to sew. Years earlier, I had sewn a few dresses and jackets, and I already knew the basic knit stitch. Somehow, I convinced myself that knitting a cardigan would be the logical next step.

What I didn't know was that knitting and sewing are not the same thing.

At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about gauge swatches. Blocking was not even in my vocabulary. This was before YouTube, before video tutorials, and before you could search "why does my sweater look nothing like the picture?" and receive thousands of helpful answers.

Back then, you had a book, a pair of needles, and a healthy amount of optimism.

The pattern was worked flat, which was manageable enough. I knitted the back panel. Then the front panels. Then the sleeves. Piece by piece, I slowly assembled what appeared to be a cardigan.

Or so I thought.

What the pattern failed to mention—or perhaps what I failed to understand—was that knitting the pieces was only half the battle.

Then came the finishing.

The sleeves had to be sewn onto the body. The side seams had to be sewn together. The shoulders had to be joined. Buttonholes had to be created. Every time I thought I was finished, another instruction appeared telling me to sew something else.

It felt less like knitting and more like constructing a small woolen house.

The details are fuzzy now, but I distinctly remember being thoroughly annoyed by the entire finishing process.

And yet, somehow, I completed it.

The funny thing is that I finished this cardigan before I even met my daughter.

Years later, I pulled it out and put it on her. The sleeves were hilariously long. Apparently, gauge does matter after all.

Fortunately, children have a remarkable habit of growing.

Eventually, she grew into those sleeves, and the cardigan finally found its intended owner.

These days, knitting is a very different experience. Thanks to YouTube and the brilliance of modern knit designers, I discovered top-down sweaters and cardigans knit in one piece. No seaming. No wrestling sleeves into armholes. No staring at a pile of knitted pieces wondering how they are supposed to become a wearable garment.

Every time I finish a top-down sweater and weave in a few ends, I silently thank the clever knitters who figured out a better way.

To all of those innovative designers who eliminated hours of seaming and finishing: thank you.