Veronika Cardigan — Becca Made That

Hi Internet friends!

As promised in the last post today I'm sharing with you my new personal speed knitting record, my Veronika cardigan. :D

I first heard about this pattern by Shannon Cook, through the Fringe Association posting wayyyy back in July and added it to my queue immediately, knowing that I would want it for a fall knit... given that it's essentially a craftily constructed worsted weight blanket I didn't really want to start this project until the weather was sufficiently cool. As it turns out my patience in waiting to cast on paid off in spades as it allowed me to wait until this year's Knit City to pick up this amazing yarn by Sweet Fiber Yarns, an amazing dyer local to British Columbia.

Side Bar: Knit City was amazing!! It was the first time that the stars aligned so I could go this year and I had a blast! I think the best way to explain my experience with how friendly and engaging the knitting community is is through the following analogy I gave to my non-knitting friends; Knit City was kind of like a sober version of the ladies room at a bar, everyone is so complementary, everyone is ooing and awing over what everyone else is wearing, ladies come up and touch what ever knit wear you have on to see what it's like, everyone is super forthcoming with the details of what they knit, the pattern, the yarn, etc., and most of all you instantly have about 100 new best friends. The only difference is that it's much more sober (well we were all a little punch drunk over the yarn selection......)

Back to Sweet Fiber Yarns, currently her yarns are only available at a single shop in in BC or through her online store so getting to see all the yarn in person at Knit City (in all their squishy goodness) was amazing! I had been crushing hard over this particular colourway, Rose Gold, after seeing it on her Instagram, I was in love with the way the golden tones and the deep dusty pink played together. So off I trucked to Knit City thinking initially that I would simply by a single skein in fingering weight and make a nice fall shawl even though deep down I knew I wanted to knit the Veronika cardigan with it (I was trying to be a good #adult and stick to a budget!).....however the knitting gods heard my internal dilemma and set temptation in my path in the form of a fellow knitter who had knit the Veronika and happened to be in the Sweet Fiber booth moments after I had purchased my single skein of fingering weight.....I took that skein for anice trip around to all the booths, even bumping into that same knitter a few times, until I eventually succumbed and went back and exchanged my single skein for 6 skeins of rose gold Merino twist worsted. (Side bar for the #fluffyblondmonster: I think the point is here that I TRIED to stick to a budget....I tried really hard! who am I to contend with the wills of the knitting gods?)

Let's get to my knitting notes: all in all this was a super fast knit, almost exactly one week from the moment I cast on to the moment it was blocked and drying on our living room floor (I wish I took a picture because I had to do some creative blocking since it was bigger than the interlocking foam pads I used for blocking boards and basically had to pin part of it to the carpet and then put the coffee table over top to protect it.). The speed can be mostly attributed to my need to be able to wear it as soon as possible! Not that I didn't enjoy the making process, I just really wanted to add this guy to my fall wardrobe ASAP. I knit at every opportunity, on the train in the morning and afternoon, before work and after work, it was an obsession! In the process I broke my previous personal record for speed knitting large projects by a wide margin :) In terms of sizing and modifications I knit the smallest size and took about an inch out of the back width just so it wouldn't completely overwhelm me, Shannon provides details on how to do the modifications on her website since this is knit as one big piece. Given the variegation in colour with this yarn I knit with alternating skeins, changing every two rows in order to avoid any colour pooling. In total I used almost exactly 5 skeins of yarn, leaving me with a whole skein of this loveliness for another project ;)

As you can probably guess I haven't really taken it off since finishing it......I've worn it around work, out and about, and at home. It does take a bit of learning to figure out how to drape it 'just right' so that both fronts are even and the whole thing doesn't feel like it's going to slip off, but once you get that sweet spot you'll be in a snugly cocoon of warmth (it's a good thing this yarn is super wash because it's going to get quite a work out!) The only two possible downsides to this pattern are that it's hard to layer under a jacket since the sleeves are quite large so you'll end up with a lot of bunching in the sleeves, the second is short person related since I keep catching the wide sleeves on door handles and table edges, but such is the life of a short girl. All in all I can see myself wearing this all through the fall and spring for the foreseeable future so I'm quite happy :D

More fall knitting and sewing coming your way in the next few weeks! In the mean time what are the fastest knitting projects in your books? Let me know below!