I’ve already written a little about the souping-up of my craft tracking, and I wanted to add now that it’s already starting to provide useful insights. One of the main reasons I wanted to start it was to help with project planning, mostly by making sure that the things I make are actually going to get worn consistently, both because I like the shape and the colour.

The most successful item so far is my yellow Saltburn cardigan, which I made in November of last year. It immediately became my favourite hand-made item ever, and so far this year (as of date of posting) I’ve worn it 28 times. That’s more than once a week, and there’s been plenty of days I’ve had to slap my hand away from it just to give something else in the wardrobe a start. In other words, the perfect candidate for a dupe. And coincidentally, I have a stash of a different shade of the same yarn just lying around.

It had something of an inauspicious start; I spent a good few hours knitting, making it all the way to the armholes… and only realising when I went to make a WIP Wednesday post on socials that I’d made a critical error.

a piece of an unfinished hand-knitted cardigan lying on the grass. it has a textured diamond pattern on it, which should be in the centre, but sadly is not.

Count the zigzags to the left and right of the diamonds. 🤦‍♀️

I think it’s a sign of my growth as a person that instead of beating myself up for making such a silly mistake, I just threw my head back and laughed. And posted it for other people to laugh with/at me. I also find that these days, I feel a strange sense of joy when I mess my knitting up; sure, I have to rip it out and start again, but that’s more knitting time, right? What’s not to like?

As with the yellow version, I’ve found a home for some buttons that were already vintage when I bought them, and have sat in my button stash for ten years since then. Does that make them extra-vintage? Vintage+? (If I’m being picky, they’re not the exact same shade of blue, but they’re close enough as makes no odds.)

close-up of the button band of a hand-knit blue cardigan. three buttons are visible, which are brown with faded blue roses printed on them.

I’d love to know what colour these roses were originally, I’m sure they didn’t start out blue.

And there we have it. Will this prove to be the challenger to the yellow version that I’m hoping? Will they in fact team up to destroy the hopes of the rest of my hand-made wardrobe? Will I decide to make yet another in, I don’t know, a nice warm shade of purple? Time will tell.

a hand-knit blue cardigan hanging against a bare wooden fence. the cardigan has long sleeves, a v-neck front, a textured pattern of diamonds and zigzags, and cute buttons with blue roses printed on them.


Semi-Related Posts:

  • Yellow Saltburn Cardigan
    Nov 26, 2024
    In my monthly perusal of The Knitter (courtesy of my local elibrary, blessings be upon them) I came across Saltburn (rav link), a long-ish gansey-style jumper with a fun textured pattern of diamonds and zigzags. I’d recently snagged some nice tweedy yarn in a delightful shade of mustard yellow that needed something textured, but not too textured, and so I thought this might fit the bill. ...
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    May 2, 2022
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  • Toe-Up 'Pucker' Socks
    Jan 4, 2018
    This was a really interesting and fun pattern to knit; it looks super-complicated but it’s actually not that bad once you get into the swing. It showcases the variegation of a Zauberball beautifully. ...
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    Nov 11, 2014
    This is a pattern I saw and immediately wanted to make; I bought the pattern and yarn, was thrilled throughout the making… ...
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