Amy Clarke Moore: The Ten-Year Cardigan

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

SusanL@7 — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:33:44 GMT

Time to 'fess up. I have an afghan in the beautiful tones of aqua and olive that were so popular in 1966! That's when I started the project. It was to have adorned my dorm room bed. It's about 3/4 completed. I get it out every 10 years or so and work on it. I just can't get rid of it!

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

BearyAnn — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:03:22 GMT

This reminded me of my longest unfinished project. I started a cross stitch of my grandparents in 1999 just after their 70th wedding anniversary. ( http://www.bearyann.com/general/9-year-cross-stitch/ ) It helps to know I am in good company when it comes to some projects that won't end.

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

KaraS — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:13:36 GMT

you say your father picked a lovely brown yarn. it looks blue in the photos.

kara spitler

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

CarolynS@3 — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 01:56:17 GMT

This article made me chuckle. I recently "gave up" on a sweater I started to knit in 1978! The fronts and back were done, just needed sleeves. This sweater had sealed the Curse of the Boyfriend Sweaters. Twice I had knit (or started to knit) sweaters for my boyfriend at the time. Twice these men broke up with me just after receiving the sweater or before the sleeve fitting. After that, I stopped knitting sweaters for the men in my life. My husband of 16 years still gets nervous when I start a project...he wants to make sure it is NOT for him!
By the way, I was able to donate the second Cursed Sweater to an assisted living facility where the residents like to finish these unfinished projects.

Carolyn

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

Santry — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:03:13 GMT

When I was a child in the 50's, my Mum had a UFO for my dad. It was all cable in very fine wool (we call it 2 ply here in Australia). She had the front and back done and never got around to doing the sleeves. She had knitted lots of other things as there were 7 kids and she could knit a baby's matinee jacket in a night! But the jumper sat in the bottom of her wardrobe waiting. Some time after I was married, she decided to just make it into a vest by adding ribbing to the armholes besides the neckline. It was at least 20 years in the making. Well, my Dad loved that vest. He wore it often when he went out at night until the yarn wore away. He was a lovely uncomplaining man and understood that Mum had lots of work looking after 7 children. Another memory I have is her telling me that during the Depression before she married Dad, she earned extra money by picking up the runs in women's stockings for a penny an inch!

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

Jmkwiley — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:49:29 GMT

Amy,
I have an 11-year project. 11 years ago, I decided I would use the travel time to visit my husband's family (5 hours) to knit a blanket. It sits mostly forgotten, and about 3/4 finished, in the bottom of my studio closet. I call it a wip, because I do still work on it from time to time. Wonder when I'll finish it?????????
I'd call your Dad's sweater a wip.
Mary Wiley

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

Elizabeth — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:10:21 GMT

If the sweater is not going to fit him and you don't enjoy working on it, I would make something that you can finish for him soon. Perhaps you really don't want to finish this sweater for some reason, and maybe you just need to face up to that and quit.

If it helps any, I made a totally inappropriate sweater (my second, as a child) for my beloved grandfather. It didn't fit, so he put it in the dryer. Then it fit, but was more appropriate for a teenager than a grandfather. When he died many years later, although I never saw him wear it, it was still there in his closet. He had kept it from 1960 til 1984...a quarter of a century, because I made it for him and to remember me.

So give your father something you have made, I don't think it really matters except that YOU MADE IT FOR HIM WITH LOVE.

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

Elizabeth — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:10:16 GMT

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

CarolP@2 — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:47:36 GMT

As soon as I started reading this post, all I could think was, I wish my dad was still here so I could knit him something. If you decide to finish your sweater, it'll be a memory you'll treasure long after the knitting is done.

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

Jeri Lea K — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:32:28 GMT

My dad started a thick cabled sweater for my Mom when I was small. He decided to make it longer than the pattern, and thus ran out of yarn when he got to the sleeves. He couldn't find any more. That sorry pile of sweater pieces made several moves with our family, and was part of our family lore. (I now have kids of my own in college.) A couple of years ago my mother handed me the dusty bag and announced that I was inheriting the family sweater because she hoped I might actually finish it. I despaired. The pattern was long gone. Yarn labels had disappeared. But amazingly enough I succeeded in finding a yarn that came very close. It might have been the same yarn, if you factored out 30 years of yellowing. I sewed the pieces together, and contemplated the sleeves, not knowing how the sleeve cap was to have been shaped. I decided to go with Barbara Walker's top-down set-in sleeves, picked up stitches, and worked down the sleeve in the round in a seed stitch pattern taken from the body of the sweater. It didn't look perfect, due to the difference in yarn, but it could now fulfill its sweater destiny. I gave it to my parents that Christmas, and they were thrilled. But she never wears it. They live in a much warmer climate now! So yes, you can finish a stalled project after many years, but sometimes it's just not worth it. Things change! Better to get it done, or decide to move on.

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

theyarnqueen — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:26:58 GMT

Amy is my kind of knitter, I loved her article and could relate to 10 year projects and waiting room knitting. My waiting room knitting keeps me sane, hurry and wait especially at the airport. And as far as a 10 year project being a WIP or UFO I just consider them to be in time out.

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

Maryanne h — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:01:20 GMT

To Syd G. Go to Yarndex.com for yarn substitutions. The yarn weight is fingering. The gauge in the pattern is after washing and shrinking. The prewash gauge for the guernsey wool is 32 stitches by 36 rows. Whatever fingering weight yarn you get, you'll need to adjust the pattern to fit your gauge.

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

JodiK — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:40:49 GMT

By my definition, Amy's 10-year sweater is a UFO during the March-October times when she isn't working on it, a WIP in November-February when it is getting some attention. Good luck!

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

EllenD — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:25:44 GMT

OK, I'm trying to look at the photos and imagine how the sweater can look so blue but really be what one would describe as brown. Compared with the planks underneath it (what color are they?)
My mother died while I was trying to knit a complicated Jean Moss sweater for her. I handed it off to friends to finish for me so that I could give it to my sister or someone else in the family. I couldn't and can't bear to look at it again.

re: Amy Clarke MooThe Ten-Year Cardigan

VivianM — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:30:20 GMT

To Barbara H--here's hoping your reading this post. i was so excited that you can get me the Spartan Sweater pattern. here's my e-mail as i know of no other way to contact you elvira@buckeye-express.com WOW i'm so happy, God is good!