Thrifted tapestry yarn...

...into a beautiful Heirloom Quilt Cardigan

This will (hopefully!) be the last blog post for a while about the Heirloom Quilt Cardigan by Katryn Seeburger. I’ve written so much about this knitting pattern, both the one I made for myself, and this second one I’ve finally finished for my Mum. I basically spent the entirety of 2024 knitting this pattern, which I found after browsing Ravelry for a pattern to make use of a box of thrifted tapestry yarn. I do love a pattern that can be easily applied to both thrifted yarn, and scraps & remnants. All those odds and ends that often languish in your stash, or, worst case scenario, end up in the bin. This pattern is the perfect way to solve that problem.

After making the version above for myself, I decided to use the pastel colours for a cardigan for my Mum. She prefers pastels, specifically pinks and blues, so it was also a good opportunity to use some thrifted Nutiden I had in my stash (bought from a charity shop in Edinburgh) for the sleeves, neckband and bottom hem. I held both the Nutiden and the tapestry yarn double with Drops Kidsilk mohair, to create continuity and bring the colours together. It also gives the finished project that lovely, fuzzy halo of warm hairs. I talk more about the early days of this cardigan in the blog post below.

It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but I only managed to finish it around a week ago, just after Hogmanay. Luckily, my Mum is easy about these things, she’s just happy to have something knit for her. I don’t knit or sew for many people these days, but Mum is always a delighted recipient of handmade gifts.

I made size 2 of 3 options. I had made size 1 for myself and was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t more oversized. However, having tried on size 2 for these photos, I realise now size 1 is the best option for me. You can see in the photos it’s definitely too big for me; the back rides up and the sleeves are too long. You can adjust the size by changing the stitch count for the star design, or changing the overall number of squares in width or length. I’m slightly worried the sleeves might be too long for Mum as well as me, but if that were a deal breaker she could frog the sleeves from the cuff back to her desired length, then reknit the cuff.

As a side note, how beautiful is the snow as a backdrop for photos? We’ve had a lot of snow in Inverness recently and it’s been very beautiful and magical, if a bit of a pain for getting chores done!

There’s not much more to say about this pattern really, that I haven’t covered already in one of my other blog posts. It’s very straightforward and satisfying to knit; each square took me around an hour or so, and picking out the colours for the star design was very fun. These kind of projects are a perfect intersection of creativity, sustainability, and joy. I love taking something with potentially little value, like old tapestry yarn, and turning it into something beautiful and functional. The word ‘heirloom’ in the name of this pattern is very appropriate I think; I could imagine a cardigan like this being handed down the generations, gathering darns and repairs as it went. I would like to knit another one for me in sweater form, I think it would be relatively easy to hack into a sweater. For now though, I think I’m done with this pattern!