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Free Knitting Pattern: Taylor Swift TTPD Inspired Cardigan

By Allison Schmidt
Cozy up and knit with the chairman of the Tortured Poets Department. This cardigan is a labor of love and I wanted to share my charts and notes with you! This blog post covers all of the instructions for this cardigan including my charts - it is not graded to any other size. You can get this pattern in a PDF for free on Ravelry if you prefer .  Size:   This sweater is 44” in body circumference. For me it fits with 6” of ease on a 38” bust. Yarn: Worsted weight - Knitting For Olive Heavy Merino in Pearl Grey - 12 balls for my size. Needles:  US #7 needles (4.5mm) for the body and sleeves.  US #5 needles (3.75mm) for the ribbing on the sleeves and neckline. Gauge:  Average cable gauge 22 sts = 4 inches. In stockinette gauge is 18 sts = 4 inches. Row gauge is 24 sts = 4 inches.  Notions: Three 1" buttons, three removable stitch markers (or more to separate cables), tapestry needle, scissors. Note on this cardigan:   This cardigan is challenging - I high...
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Easy Knit Hat for Beginners

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By Allison Schmidt
This post contains affiliate links at no additional cost to you and help me keep this project running!

I started my 2020 goals way early. I got started in October, so welcome to 2020, things are going okay. One of my big goals for 2020 is to keep learning, and teaching myself new skills that I can enjoy for basically the rest of my life, and I'm starting with knitting! My mom taught me how to knit when I was around 12, maybe? And I haven't touched it since because I found it so difficult at the time. It was stuck in my head like a weird frustrating puberty hormone-driven angst that I really needed to get over. And I finally did in the last two weeks. 


It all started with a painfully time-consuming practice swatch that I unraveled before taking a photo, sparing your eyes this displeasure of so many holes. How I kept missing stitches is beyond me, I'd just look down and three rows ago there would be a big hole. It happens.

After the rage-unraveling was over, I just picked it up and tried again, and all of a sudden it made sense.

Because I have this nasty habit of jumping straight into things a bit faster than I should, I decided that instead of a scarf (the standard first knitting project) I would make a hat. Look, I have a bunch of scarves, I'm all set. And it's literally almost 80 degrees in December as I'm writing this, a big wooly scarf isn't going to get a lot of use. A bright yellow hat, on the other hand, was much needed in my cool weather wardrobe.


I picked up a chonky skein of Lion Brand's yarn in Mustard for just a couple bucks and I didn't even use the whole skein for the hat and pom pom. Do I love acrylic based yarn? No, not really. But, for my first project, I didn't want to splash out on a nice skein and end up with it in a knot. Along with the yarn I ordered circular knitting needles that I knew I would need for this and an upcoming project.

Then: hat creation


I've been browsing knitting videos (and blogs, and instagram accounts) lately, so Google was all up in my business knowing what content to suggest me which is how I found this super easy hat tutorial by Bhooked. The presenter takes it slowly and makes it really easy to follow along. If you're more into written instructions, she covers it all on her blog.

I bounced back and forth between her video and Outlander (can you blame me) for a few hours and BAM. Hat complete. I didn't love the simple hat alone and with the extra yarn I had leftover, I made a lil pom pom and sewed it on.


Next up? I want to learn different knitting patterns, wish me luck.


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Free Knitting Pattern: Taylor Swift TTPD Inspired Cardigan

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Cozy up and knit with the chairman of the Tortured Poets Department. This cardigan is a labor of love and I wanted to share my charts and notes with you! This blog post covers all of the instructions for this cardigan including my charts - it is not graded to any other size. You can get this pattern in a PDF for free on Ravelry if you prefer .  Size:   This sweater is 44” in body circumference. For me it fits with 6” of ease on a 38” bust. Yarn: Worsted weight - Knitting For Olive Heavy Merino in Pearl Grey - 12 balls for my size. Needles:  US #7 needles (4.5mm) for the body and sleeves.  US #5 needles (3.75mm) for the ribbing on the sleeves and neckline. Gauge:  Average cable gauge 22 sts = 4 inches. In stockinette gauge is 18 sts = 4 inches. Row gauge is 24 sts = 4 inches.  Notions: Three 1" buttons, three removable stitch markers (or more to separate cables), tapestry needle, scissors. Note on this cardigan:   This cardigan is challenging - I high...
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