With apologies to Apple, Speck, Razor, and Dick

It is sometimes said that names are a self-fulfilling prophecy. If this is true, parents should quit giving their children names like, Apple, Speck, Razor, and Dick. Sure, a baby Apple, Speck, Razor, or Dick is very cute, but will it be so nice when the prophecy is fulfilled, and you have a fully mature, adult Apple, Speck, Razor, or Dick standing there in front of you?

I am sincerely sorry if, dear reader, I insulted you because you or yours are called one of these names. But, if you are an Apple, Speck, Razor, or Dick, drop me a comment about the veracity of the self-fulfilling-prophecy theory.

Because, I’ve been wondering about it ever since I caught the fever of the Must Have Cardigan. I didn’t like it much when I first saw the sweater. It seemed like a box with cables, and I never cared much for cables or for wearing boxes.

Then I saw a detailed photo of the stitch pattern on the Yarn Harlot’s Must Have, and that turned me. The cables and seed stitch stood out like a soft, relief sculpture. It looked beautiful.


I started musing about how a hard marble sculpture can look like soft flesh, and soft yarn can look as if it’s carved from stone. That made me want to knit the cardigan even if it looked like a box. Luckily, it turned out less boxy than I feared.


Specs
Pattern: Must Have Cardigan from Patons Street Smart booklet, size small.
Needles: size 7 for the body, size 6 for the ribbing and waist.
Yarn: 5 skeins of Valley Yarns Northampton in Merlot Heather
Modifications: Increased the body length 1 inch. Increased sleeve length .5 inch. Knit the fronts and back on one long circular. Added waist shaping by knitting with one size smaller needles somewhere around the waist. Mirrored the cables. Cast on full number of stitches from the get-go instead of increasing after ribbing.