I’m a massive nerd, if that comes as a surprise. When I plan a trip, I like to have made a special project for the occasion, such as my West Virginia Penitentiary Para-Con pair of Almondine socks, or this example, my Hidden Marietta Paranormal Exposition (sensing a theme) Colette cardigan. Having a specific project to work on before the event gives me something to occupy my mind in the meantime, and helps the wait time go faster, especially if it’s a loftier project goal. By the way, if you’re in range and are of the inclination, the 2022 West Virginia Penitentiary Para-Con just got announced, and it should be the weekend of August 13th. Ticket information isn’t on the website yet, but it’s being ran this year by my favorite paranormal group Paranormal Quest so you know I’ll be there!
Back to Colette. To be honest, she had been languishing in the bottom of my knitting basket for a while. I powered through the back, knocked out the left front, then stalled out on the right. Picking it back up months later after I noticed I needed a project for the Marietta trip, I powered through the right front. It wasn’t until I started to seam the shoulders that I discovered the reason I stalled out. I hadn’t mirrored the lace panel that runs up the edge, and it wasn’t until I was laying it out to seam it that I discovered that it didn’t quite match up. Mostly my fault. The pattern is written using the standard ‘reverse the shaping’ for the opposite front, which is easy enough on a fairly simple pattern like Colette, but doesn’t specifically mention to make sure you place the lace panel on the other end. If you’re a bit of a dim bulb like me, it doesn’t hit you until you’re flipping the pieces around, furiously trying to figure out where you went wrong until the truth hits you like an on-coming train. Didn’t help that I knit the majority of the right front long after finishing the left, and without taking a good look at what I was doing. Luckily this cardigan is knit at a fairly large gauge, so it didn’t take long to re-knit. I did intentionally deviate from the pattern in that I attached the sawtooth lace edging as a knit-on edging, attaching the border to the cardigan as I knit, instead of knitting the border separately in two strips (flipping around one strip at the center neck so it mirrors) and sewing it on at the end. Pretty pleased with how it turned out! At first I thought the shoulders fit a bit awkward but it grew on me quickly, and I haven’t taken it off much since. I used Plymouth Galway in a pretty light lavender.
Next in line is a Lotus Mandala Duster by Regina Weiss which is a lofty goal indeed, considering my investigation to Hanover Tavern with Transcend Paranormal is this Saturday. Yikes!