I’ve never made a cardigan before, but I needed something to knit for fiber arts night on Thursday – when a few friends come over to knit, cross-stitch, and eat junk food for dinner. So I grabbed five colors from my stash of decade-old worsted weight and gave it a go, defaulting to the same fair isle pattern burned into my retinas from time spent tediously coloring cells in excel in college.

I used up the yarn pretty thoroughly – if only my groceries got the same treatment – but in hindsight, I should have used more than five colors. When I got to the sleeves, I started to run out and had to knit them a color block at a time to make sure I could replicate the pattern for both. This was also around the time I started to wonder if the fibers in the air from my constant furious knitting would affect my lungs. Adding it to my list of neuroses. 

The second challenge was buttons. Turns out, despite having a button collection that weighs at least a few pounds, I didn’t actually have a choice in what to use. I only owned three buttons that matched. Weirdly, all were stamped with the words “military equipment.” I have no memory of where they came from, but this sweater is now the closest thing to camo in my closet.

You can buy the pattern on Ravelry here for sizes XS-XL.