Cardigan for me

Having finished the Charlotte Dress for P last week, it is now time to get on with the project I've had going on for me! It's a lovely Autumn Cardigan, and I'd like to finish it soon, given that we're now officially in Autumn!

It's from the Sirdar Tweedie Chunky pattern book, though I confess I'm not actually using Tweedie Chunky wool, but a nice Aran I spotted a while back.

I'm going for the 'One button cabled jacket' and I've made good progress (especially considering the time spent decorating recently, and general lack of coherence left in my head once both kids are in bed and the house is reasonably tidy/clean*)

To date, I've completed the back, both fronts, and am about 2/3 the way through the first sleeve (though am once more gathering momentum, although also have a carpet to lay in our almost up-and-running new guest room in the loft, which will undoubtedly be taking some of my time in the next day or two...!).

It's a lovely and simple pattern to follow, though when particularly tired in the evenings I have been known to mess up the cabled pattern, then undo and restart whole chunks, as it is more than my brain can fathom to correct cable patterns through dropping down rows!

I've recently puchased a copy of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac

It's wonderfully old school, although some of the patterns I'm afraid I wouldn't touch with a barge pole (knitted 'nether garments'? I don't think so, thanks!).  I got it after seeing this beautiful picture on Tikki's blog, as I quite fancied that beautiful yellow cardi for P somewhere along the line.  But, having read the relevant pattern, I've found it pretty difficult to follow, being for extremely experienced knitters (I'd count myself as very proficient, though not extremely experienced yet!) and it has no sizing- just a gauge of "about 5 sts to 1"- though babies come in various sizes!".  Help- where on earth do I start with that? I have a nicely rounded 6 month old (I know- when did that happen? She was only just a new born the other day!) but haven't the first idea how to adapt a pattern to fit various sizes...

Any ideas very warmly received!

Is anyone else loving the start of Autumn? It makes me want to make soups and stews, and start knitting more fingerless gloves...

C x

*On this front, I am sorry to say that since producing a second child, my standards of house keeping have dropped considerably!