It really sucks when your hobby literally causes you physical pain. I love knitting. It calms my neurotic brain, plus there’s nothing better than wearing clothes you’ve made for yourself. Unfortunately, knitting longer than about half an hour makes my neck and back pain worse, and every knitter knows you can’t just knit half an hour and then stop when you’re really into your project-of-the-moment.

All that to say that I’ve overdone it with my latest project. At the beginning, I paced myself and kept to 30 minute knitting intervals. Then I realized how badly I wanted to finish this cardigan and any thought of moderation went out the window. This is the “Embrace” cardigan featured in Kim Hargreaves’ “Misty”. It’s knitted in DROPS Belle, a DK weight cotton-linen mix. I just love the simplicity of the design. The subtle shaping creates a figure flattering silhouette. The draped fronts, constructed using short rows, add visual interest to the all over stockinette stitch.

Thanks to the stockinette stitch, this isn’t a particularly difficult pattern. It just requires stamina. That makes it rather perfect for weekends spent watching hours of trashy TV while you knock the next pattern piece out, which … uh … is exactly what happened. Thank God I had a physical therapy appointment today, because my neck and back were NOT in good shape after that. I do love the cardigan, though. The colour is beautiful and I can see myself wearing it all autumn and winter. The sleeves ended up too long, but I’ll just turn them up. Otherwise I feel really great in this cardigan!

Except my neck. My neck doesn’t feel great. Oh well. You can’t have everything.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Pattern: Embrace by Kim Hargreaves (size 38).

Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Belle (DK, 53% cotton/33% viscose/14% linen), 20 Navy Blue.

Photography: Phil.