My 2026 Fall Knitting Side Quest
September 18, 2026 - Day 1: Drafting A Pattern, Gathering Tools & Making Swatches
Okay, confession time. My 2026 fall knitting queue had a plan. A beautiful, organized plan. Next up was the Rory Sweater, and I was ready.
But then... Dagmar happened. 🧶
Don't get me wrong, I love how Dagmar turned out. But 36 days of heavy cabling? My hands said "no thank you" and my brain said "we need a palate cleanser, stat."
So I did what any reasonable knitter would do: I took a sidequest.
Here's the thing. My daughter has been watching me knit all the things for myself. Selfish knitting is glorious, but the tiny human noticed. And she had FOMO. Big time.
She wanted something fall-y. Something hers.
And honestly? The timing was perfect. I was feeling that post-Dagmar burnout, and I needed something quick. Something with fast gratification. Something that would remind me why I love knitting in the first place.
So last week, most of my knitting time went into designing and drafting a pattern for my daughter. I watched a couple of YouTube tutorials on drafting and calculating your own raglan sweaters, and then I went full math mode.
(Shoutout to ChatGPT for checking my calculations and helping me design charts based on my ideas. You're the real MVP. 🙌)
I also knitted up some swatches that would go into the design. Because we do not skip swatches in this house.
Here's a fun one: I didn't go to my stash this time. Instead, I frogged a throw.
Yep. I had this throw that I knitted a while ago, and it just... no longer fit the vibe of the room. But the color? Perfect for this project. I believe it was Lion Brand Maize (maybe? don't quote me on that).
My daughter also wants oranges and reds, which I'm considering, but I'm worried the textures and patterns might look too busy with color changes. So for now, we're keeping it simple and letting the design do the talking.
The cardigan design features:
- A minimalistic texture at the top that flows into a "falling leaves" pattern at the bottom 🍂
- Sleeves where I'm hoping to achieve a balloon effect with cinched cuffs. We'll see how it goes! 🤞
For the top texture, I did a few different options:
- Simple purl was too subtle
- Full-on bobble was a bit too much
- Estonian button was just right
Goldilocks would be proud. The Estonian button gives that perfect "just right" feel for this cardigan.
Yesterday, I finally cast on. 🎊
And boy oh boy, am I happy with how it's looking. But most of all? I'm happy with how FAST it's going. After 36 days of Dagmar, this feels like a dream.
Hoping not to jinx myself here, but... I think this sidequest was exactly what I needed. 💖