Pattern: #11 Forestry (Old Penny) by Veronik Avery
Yarn: Classic Elite Skye Tweed *now discontinued*
Needles: 3.25 and 4mm needles
It’s almost ridiculous how long it has taken me to complete this cardigan. I cast on in Nov of 2008 and finished it rather quickly. It was only when I tried it on that I realized that I had picked up way to many stitches on the bands and needed to rip it out and reknit. *I’m chalking that up to the early sweater knitting days for me.* At that particular time the last thing I wanted to do was rip it out and reknit so it was thrown in the corner to sit for a while.
It wasn’t until 2010 maybe *I know it was after T came along and I was out of the baby fog* that I finally picked it up and decided to finish it. This time I picked up the correct number of stitches and knit away. I didn’t have any extra yarn from this project and was terrified that I would run out before I bound off so I modified the neck a bit cutting out some short rows. I thought the neck was a bit on the short side but decided I could live with it that is until I saw the pictures Moose took…. GOOD GRIEF… that was attempt #2.
My third and final attempt happened this week. I decided once and for all to pull out this cardi and put it to bed. I ripped back to the beginning of the short row shaping on the neck. I had a good amount of yarn left over after attempt number 2 and figured I could squeeze out ALL the short rows, the three final rows and bind off without running out. I definitely cut it close but I can now say I’m satisfied with it although given another ball I would make the bands and neck longer for sure.
Neck and bands aside the cardigan fits perfectly and will be worn a lot no doubt.
There was only one modification I made on Penny. I thought the back was a little plain so I added 4 rows of coin cables down the middle to add some interest.
It may have taken two years to complete but it was worth it. I’ve come such a long way with my garment knitting in those two years and this cardigan will always have a story to tell of the early days.