Hey Friends!

Hope you've been having a blast enjoying the last bit of summer! For us in Vancouver the rain is beginning to set in, heralding the time for COZY SWEATERS! :D If you've been lurking my Instagram you've probably seen some sneak peeks of my newest sweater weather addition over the summer, the Snoqualmie Cardigan by Michelle Wang for Brooklyn Tweed.

As a fitting tribute to this epic piece of cabling goodness I decided to wait to take pictures until headingour end of summer hiking adventure in Mt. Robson, Banff, and Lake Louise (where these pictures were taken). Of course, given my restless hands syndrome, I was the weirdo on the trail hiking in her knitting up mountains but nothing beats knitting with a good view and nice glass of wine (we also hiked in the wine.....#priorities) Due to the sheer size of the Snoqualmie I couldn't pack it in my bag for our 5 day hike which was kind of a bummer as it's super toasty and I would have been very grateful to snuggle into it when the temperature dipped at night :( but it was waiting in the car for our post hike sightseeing :D

I was smitten with the Snoqualmie when it first appeared in my inbox way back in January, but I was trying to stick to my resolutions and not buy more yarn. Then Heather over at Closet Case File went and started a #SnoqualmieKnitAlong and with that post went the rest of my self restraint....HOWEVER I was able to compromise by using some left over Cascade Eco wool from my very very first sweater that I ever knit (which I wore like twice....sound familiar fellow knitters? ) and just bought enough extra wool to finish this project (which, by the way, is both the most satisfying and simultaneously most nerve wracking things that can happen to a knitter, as on one hand you're super happy that you had just enough and on the other hand you spend your last few rows panicking that you don't have enough yarn and of course it's late and aahhhhhhhh!!) Luckily, the even though it's been a few years since I first bought that Cascade Eco wool, the dye lots apparently don't vary greatly (according to my Local yarn store) so I didn't have to worry about alternating different balls of yarn across the whole project.

Given the oversized nature of this sweater it was important to me to get the sizing right since an oversized sweater can quickly go from 'fashionably comfy' on a short person to 'frumpy child in adult clothing' which isn't the look I'm going for. I ended up doing a bit of mixing and matching between sizes to get something closer to my proportions and I think I pretty much nailed it minus the sleeves which ended up a bit bigger than I wanted so I have to roll them up.....but the extra length does allow for convenient hand warmers! If your interested in looking at the modifications I've listed them here on my Ravelry page.

This was a really fun project to knit up and, if you are willing to take the plunge, a great way to introduce yourself to knitting cables (you don't even need a cable needle!) and since it's all knit in parts (fronts, back, sleeves) you can travel with it, at least up to the point where you join everything together. If you need further motivation or a helping hand check out Heather's knit along posts linked above! ;)

Some of you eagle eyed readers will notice that I don't have buttons on this cardigan yet, that's mostly unintentional.....I just haven't found the right buttons yet, I can't decide on the colour or the type that I would like....I was toying with the idea of getting some nice wooden toggle buttons but I'm just not sure. Thoughts? let me know in the comments!

Hope you've enjoyed some of the pictures from our trip on Instagram and I hope that this post has gotten you excited for sweater weather ;)