Birkenwasser knits

Pattern: Corvid by Jared Flood

Yarn: Austermann Irish Tweed, 855 g

Needles: 4 and 4,5 mm (US 6 and 7)

The cardigan is knitted flat in pieces and then sewn together. This is a good choice, as knitting it in one piece would mean that you have a gigantic piece of knitting to work on (well, you still do, once you get to the collar...). Also, such a large item benefits from the added structure given by the seams.

This was a nice project to have by my desk last winter: the endless stockinette stitch was a perfect companion to everything I was reading. Unfortunately, the gorgeous cartridge rib details are not so easy to knit while reading, and that slowed down the process. I can do 1x1 or 2x2 ribbing while reading, even brioche, but the cartridge rib pattern is not monotonous enough to be automated in my brain.

I always love it if there is something new for me in the pattern. This time, it was tubular bind off. It does give a lovely finishing touch to the sleeves. In the pattern pictures, the sleeves are 3/4 length. I'm really happy that mine are full length, but I have to admit that I don't remember if I intentionally knitted them longer, if I knitted them longer by accident, or if it happened in blocking. I haven't measured the cardigan after blocking, but it looks rather long, so the extra length might be due to blocking. Of course, I don't know how much taller their model is, but I'm not short either (I'm almost 180 cm/5'11"). This is also the reason why I couldn't have Business Woman model for me this time - the cardigan is too big for her. (And why do I usually have her in front of the camera and not behind it? Look at the collar on the back side...)

So now I have that perfect long cardigan that was missing from my wardrobe! Unfortunately, I have noticed that it's not so easy to wear: you don't want your cardigan open when it's cold outside and putting a shorter coat on top of it leaves a funny cardigan hem hanging from under the coat. So now I need to get a longer coat...