Requiem for a Cardigan

My gauge on the swatch for Pippa looked just right, so I dove in last night to my first yarn recycling project. It helped that I had a migraine I couldn't shake without Excedrin, so I was up until 2am on a caffeine high.

Here's the original sweater and a bit about its history.

Sometime in the mid-1990s, I decided I needed a new cardigan I could wear to work. I was tired of getting sore, cracked finigers from working with rough wool, which all my projects up to then had been, so I splurged on a little luxury - a silky merino wool/microfiber blend bought in a yarn shop in Rochester, NY. I called it burgundy before, but (though I don't really know much about wine) I think it's really more like a claret. I think I spent something like $80 on it. I'm afraid I've long lost the ball bands, so I have no idea who made it.

The pattern was from the booklet "More Patons Cardigans to Knit," published in 1991. It was my first pattern with any kind of lace, and I was enchanted at how nicely the diamonds came out.

I hadn't quite finished this when fibromyalgia hit, and my hands hurt so bad I couldn't knit (sometimes couldn't even cut my own food) for some time. It was 5 years or so before I pieced it together, and it lived another several years with no buttons. Y used to wear it writing in her office on chilly days, but that's about all the lovin it got. It never did get worn to work - too big and floppy and the yarn seemed to lose all it's lustrous sheen when knitted up and allowed to pill. So mostly, it's languished in a closet for the past dozen years or so.

So last night, I started ripping. And continued ripping into the night. Strangely satisfying. I wrote a few haikus while I was at it.


Steady clock ticks near
Gentle wheeze of snoring cat
Knots tied now undone

At one point, Y, sleeping, held out her hand and said with a sweet smile, "Blue keeps bringing them bit by bit." Our cat, Blue, likes to fetch crumpled up bits of paper.

She talks in her sleep
Gentle grunt of snoring wife
Dreaming of smart cats


Her cupped hand waiting
For crumpled bits of paper
Fetched by a dream cat

(That's Blue's brother Davy snoozing in the background.)

I finished ripping the button bands, one sleeve and one front panel, and finally felt enough of the caffeine had dissipated that I could sleep.

I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Today is clear and cold. A walk in the Wissahickon is definitely in order.