Stitch patterns can help personalize your work in meaningful ways, and my goal for this cardigan was to bring together an assortment of stitches that referenced good things and made me smile. As a longtime fan of the country music I grew up listening to in the 1970s (including George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson) Walker’s Banjo and Mutton-chop cables (both from her Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns) quickly stood out and felt both right and true. The pattern I chose for the buttonband reminds me of coffee beans and provides an ode of sorts to a kind barista in my neighborhood who introduced me to the Chemex method of making coffee and who often served me the perfect cup on days that my book’s deadlines felt especially daunting.