A Long Term Project

Here is the swatch I made for the green cardigan I am attempting. It took me several tries to get the pattern correct on this small swatch. I think I will be putting in a lifeline after each good repeat of the eight-row pattern on the actual sweater! (So this is what "Intermediate" patterns are like!) I could not get this second photo to save correctly in my camera, so please make do with a sideways view. My dear husband, under some protest, helped stretch the fabric for me to approximate what it would look like once blocked so the lace would show. This swatch will not be blocked, in case I need this last ball of yarn (still attached) at the end of my project. Aside, I notice the lighting is very different on the two photos of the same swatch. The top photo is much more true to life.

For this sweater I needed to cast on 326 stitches. It took me a good half hour to do just the cast on (with all the counting and re-counting) and another half hour for the first two rows of the pattern. Odd rows are all purl stitches, I think that took between 5 and 10 minutes. The rest of the time I stumbled over row two of the pattern. After a couple of hours more work on it last night, I have about one inch completed.
After I had put away my knitting in favor of a game of pinochle with my brother and my in-laws on Thanksgiving day, my father-in-law asked me how long it would take me to complete this sweater. I predicted at least six months. It seems it requires a high level of concentration, and that is something rare around here. I will need to look for many smaller projects to do in the mean time.