Ribena

I’ve completed the hated “Ribena” – a Jo Sharp cardigan that I inexplicably decided to make in twin shades of purple. Her pattern is called “Twisted Drop-Stitch Vest” but I call it Ribena for obvious reasons.

I’m still not entirely sure why I decided to make this cardigan. It’s not my thing at all. Maybe it was the promise of a quick knit made on 10mm needles? The fact that I hate knitting at super loose gauge on giant needles didn’t occur to me. You do knit two strands of 8ply/DK together at once, but it’s still super loose gauge.

As if that wasn’t enough, I chose to knit the thing in purple. PURPLE! I don’t even like purple. I own one single purple item of clothing and it’s more of a deep lilac.

I went through a serious purple phase when I was 19 years old, but I was studying a music degree and living in share houses at the time. It was a time when purple, tie-dye and batik were acceptable fashion choices – and often all at the same time. Anyway, I have many photos from my uni days which bear testament to the fact that purple does not suit me at all.

So I selected two similar shades of deep, dark purple and cast on. I managed to knit about 75% of it in a weekend nearly 18 months ago. Then I reached the point where I was sick of pushing those big loose stitches off the cable and onto the points of my circular needles and it went into the UFO bag. There was so little left to do, but I just wasn’t enjoying it at all.

When I retrieved it from the bag a few days ago it was as purple and sloppy as ever. I finished the knitting before I took the “before” photo and just needed to sew in the ends and find a suitable solution for a belt (I refused to knit one!).

Now it’s done I don’t hate it the way I thought I would. It’s ok but there are heaps of nicer ones on Ravelry – mostly by people who swapped the 10mm needles for 8mm needles. I’m almost too scared to wash and block it because I know it will just become HUGE. I’m not a small person and it’s far too big on me already.

Oh well, it’s finished now and that’s all I care about. I might feel differently about it next winter when it’s cool enough to wear it.