Emily's Aidez Cardigan

Greetings, crafty peeps!

Do you know how much I love making sweaters? I really, really do, and I'm pretty picky about how I like to make them--top down, seamless, try on as you go. Seeing Amber and Angelique's beautiful Aidezes convinced me to try this *bottom up?!?* *seamed?!?* sweater pattern by Cirilia Rose. Being a bit stubborn in my ways, I at least had convert the pattern to seamless...and add some shaping...and stuff.

This gorgeous sweater was made from Cestari 2ply Fine Merino in Blue Pansy, which is a lovely squishy aran weight yarn. It was really lovely to work with, although you could also use Peace Fleece, Cascade Eco or Eco+, Imperial Stock 2ply Mulespun, or our very own Fancy Tiger Heirloom Romney!

As per usual for me, this turned into a make it up as you go along kind of affair. After teaching the My Favorite Sweater class for so long I'm pretty comfortable with knitting away from patterns. It's like cooking, you take an amazing recipe and then close the book and make it. Sometimes awesome things happen, and it's a certainty that you will learn a lot. And Cirilia's pattern is amazing. Those cables are all gorgeous to look at, fun to knit, and surprisingly easy to memorize. It makes me so happy when you don't need a row counter as much as you thought because the tiny cables tell you when to cable the bigger ones. You smarty!

Have you ever tried fixing cabling mistakes? Well, I have now become somewhat good at that. Fixing a trellised cable is pretty intense, but makes you feel like you can do anything! Invincible! Ha ha, you silly trellis, you thought you could foil me?!?! Or, you could just leave them in, like I did above. Five points if you can see it.

Oh, and one sleeve at a time--not a good idea when you are making things up as you go. I knit the sleeves two at a time using the magic loop method. Two at a time forever! It's not just for socks, two at a time is pretty much the only way I will knit something that needs to be identical (If that scares you, take a class! You might swear off one at a time too!).

This is definitely my new go-to favorite sweater. I love it so much!