My Own Damn Pattern

As I put on this sweater this morning, I realized that I've never talked about it and it's one of my favorites. It started out on my first trip to Rhinebeck in 2008. I fell in love with the yarn from Briar Rose Fibers. And although it was pretty pricey I bought it anyway. And it couldn't be just any sweater, it had to be a special sweater. So I found a pattern I loved and knit away. But it was awful. Wrong pattern for my special yarn. So I frogged it and knit another pattern. But it was huge, really huge. So I frogged it.



And I decided to knit my own damn pattern. I got out my The Knitter's Book Handy Book of Sweater Patterns and figured it out. I wanted a simple cardigan with some ribbing like on a sweater I owned, not too long, with a little shaping.



And I needed a button band that would hold up the buttons I bought.





And when I was done, I had a sweater I loved and I wear it a lot.


I wore it to Stitches East the next year when I took a class with Lily Chin. She pointed to people one at a time and had them talk about the sweaters they were wearing but she skipped me. The look on my face must have given me away though because she came back to me and said, "You didn't make that sweater." Best compliment ever.