Kreative Kristin: My Knit Masterpiece

I realized the other day when reviewing my blog that I never posted anything about the sweater I knit earlier this year shortly after teaching myself to knit! This must be rectified as my summer cardigan was a smash hit that I wore many times during the summer months. Many of my friends will immediately recall seeing me in it a number of times.

It began with a trip to The Swift Stitch in Santa Cruz, where the sales attendant was wearing a delightful little short-sleeve, cropped length cardigan she had knit herself. I immediately loved it and asked her about it. I explained I was new to knitting, but had really taken to it. When I showed her my current project, she felt confident I could get through the sweater's pattern. She pulled it from her stock and help me select some luxurious yarn. I went home excited to tackle this next knitting challenge.

After a quick check of my gauge, I began. The cardigan is constructed in five pieces with some knitting completed after the pieces are sewn together. Here's a pictorial of the entire process. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of me wearing the sweater, but I'll work on that!

The sweater is knit in five pieces from bottom to top. This is the beginning of the back.

Almost done with the back. You can see the increases for the back shaping and also decreases for the armhole.

Back is complete, but unblocked. Right front started.

Tilt your head... right front complete.

Blocking all the pieces. You can see one of the sleeves and both pieces for the front.

Once the back and front pieces were sewn at the shoulder, I was able to knit the neck band and also the button band. Saving the buttonhole band for last.