Zip Up Cardigan - Take Two

You might remember this sweater I knit for Matt about two years ago now. I spent months working on it, ran out of yarn twice, found more online, and finally finished my first zippered cardigan. Matt really liked it and wore it a number of times before it was time to wash it. I made sure to carefully read the washing instructions on the yarn label before putting it on a gentle cycle in cold water in the washing machine. Fast forward to opening the washing machine lid….

I’m sure you can already guess, since I’m writing this blog about a new sweater, that the old one didn’t make it. Yup, all that hard work and months of knitting were washed away in the spin cycle. What happened was when I ran out of yarn, the replacement yarn wasn’t the same kind, and it ended up felting slightly in the wash, in effect shrinking the back and ruining the shape of the sweater. You might say I was kind of bummed.

But that brings us to today, two years later. After frogging the old sweater and picking out new yarn, I have finished, yet again, that exact same sweater (with a different yarn) for a second time. It didn’t take me two years to knit it, but almost a year with other projects mixed in between. The yarn I chose was much more lovely and soft than the first one, so I’m very happy with this finished result. Plus, the techniques I learned on the first sweater meant I was more skilled at putting together the sweater the second time. Needless to say, this one is dry clean ONLY!

And all was not lost with the first sweater. I was able to salvage pretty much all of the yarn and put it towards a new project. In this case, a cabled tote bag for myself that I’ve already started working on. I’ve heard about a lot of crafters that will often head to Good Will to unravel old sweaters and use the yarn for a new project; it’s a great and very creative way to up-cycle.

Finishing up a large project brings both happiness and relief. It means I’m free to start thinking up new projects to work on (you can find a list on the right hand side of the blog with Works in Progress), and I get to see Matt wearing his new sweater (doesn’t he wear it well?), at least once before the warm weather arrives.