Inside Scoop- Merriment Cardigan and Bonnet

Wow.  I feel like this has been a long time coming.  These two patterns have been my focus since I quit my job in October (well, these and raising three small children!).

I've known for a long time that these were the patterns I wanted to kickoff my "comeback" with.  The sweater and bonnet set are very dear to my heart.  When I think back to the time I spent creating them last year, it was blissful.  I was off work for almost two weeks at the holidays.  That amount of time away from the job was unheard of in my life for many years.  The company I worked for started everyone off with two weeks of vacation.  I didn't get Christmas Eve or New Years Eve, so vacation days were always saved for this time.  What this meant is that I went many years without a vacation of more than just a long weekend here or there.

Last year I knew I was winding down.  Joe was about to start his last semester of grad school, and I knew I would soon be the one home with the kids.  But I wasn't yet, and I cherished those weeks around the house.  My nights were spent knitting on the couch, in the light of the Christmas tree, listening to audio books.  I'm pretty sure I listened to every book by L.M. Montgomery along with Little Women.  With the extra free time and no work commitments, knitting was exciting to me again.  It wasn't a burden or something I had to get done because I had a duty to fulfill, I was creating for the very love of it.  Like I said: blissful.

I started with Clara's stocking, posting pictures on Instagram and seeking the opinion of the knitting community along the way.  I loved what had resulted from this power session and it made me fall in love with knitting all over again.  I decided that since Sam and Elise both had knits to match their stockings,  Clara also needed something special I could hand down to her.

The end product made me giddy.  So much so that I wrote up a quick version of the pattern to share.  I promised a pattern for both, along with multiple sizes and just couldn't deliver on the time line I was hoping for.  Winter came and went, and demands of everyday life started to press in again.  I ended up working a little longer than expected, so when I finally 'retired' I knew exactly what was going on my needles.

So here I sit, typing in the light of the Christmas tree, reminiscing about last year, and thinking about what this year has brought.  A chance to stay home with my kids, a chance to make knitting/creating/designing a bigger part of my life again.  I have agonized over this pattern.  Writing, rewriting: top-down, bottom-up, steeked in the round, flat with no steek, lice stitch removed, lice stitch back in.  I wanted it to be as special for your little one as it has been for mine.

And maybe even bigger than this, I wanted this pattern to represent who I am as a knitter and designer.  I'm back, and there may be no stopping me this time!

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