This project has been in the works for three and a half years. Out of that time, I probably didn't touch it for about two years for sure. The reason is simple, I think: I stalled out at the sleeves like I always do. It's the decreases, or more specifically keeping count of them, that leaves all my sweaters and cardigans somewhat unappealing once I get there.
But my mom's 50th birthday was coming up in August, and I figured two sleeves will be a quick knit for over two weeks time spent on vacation. Needless to say I was wrong. For one, I have a baby, and for another, we were always on the move, visiting one family member or another, so not much downtime remained. The fact that once I finished a sleeve I realized it was too narrow and had to reknit it again, didn't help either.
But over fall and winter I made sure it was a priority, and just before Christmas, it was done. Well, the knitting part, at least. Then came the blocking, and the three days of drying because our house is so cold. It's hard to block something this big when you don't have a bed and your baby crawls around all the warmer parts of the house. So I ended up mailing it out a couple days before New Year's.
Pattern: Indigo Playmate by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in Black (195) and Little Lovely (92)
Needle: US 7/ 4.5mm
Size: Medium
The yarn is Malabrigo, which was great to knit with. My mom chose pink, because she loves that color, and we chose black, because she wanted more of a coat-type cardigan, something to put on as she ran out to the store, so this way she wouldn't need to wash it every 5 minutes. I estimate I used about 6-7 skeins of black and a skein and a half of pink to complete this project.
My mom has a bit wider shoulders and bigger chest than I do, plus adding the extra ease that a coat would need, it looks quite big on me. Luckily it fits my mom much better. Some other changes I made were adding some buttons and pockets. Unfortunately, I could not find quite big enough buttons here in Fukuyama, which would please my mom as well, so the ones I ended up adding are just a tiny bit too small, hence they unbutton quite easily.
The pockets turned out alright, though I probably should have picked up the pocket stitches the other side, to keep the "lip" on the right side, making them lie flatter, than they do now. Luckily the pink edge helped a lot in this regard.
As for the sleeves, I decided to lose the second set of decreases completely, and I'm glad I did. They are nice and loose now, easy to wear over another sweater. I also knit them a bit long, as I like my sleeves on the longer side, thinking my mom can roll back the pink cuff if she needs to.
I also decided to crochet the belt instead of knitting it, but forgot to use a bigger hook for casting on, and it curls. Oh well, it adds an interesting design element.
Overall I'm satisfied with the project, and I'm glad I finished it. My mom likes it a lot, too, and that's always a plus, especially as I'm quite sure it'll be the last one for a while. It's now my husband's, dad's, and brother's turn to receive something. (^_^)v
Pattern: Indigo Playmate by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in Black (195) and Little Lovely (92)
Needle: US 7/ 4.5mm
Size: Medium
The yarn is Malabrigo, which was great to knit with. My mom chose pink, because she loves that color, and we chose black, because she wanted more of a coat-type cardigan, something to put on as she ran out to the store, so this way she wouldn't need to wash it every 5 minutes. I estimate I used about 6-7 skeins of black and a skein and a half of pink to complete this project.
My mom has a bit wider shoulders and bigger chest than I do, plus adding the extra ease that a coat would need, it looks quite big on me. Luckily it fits my mom much better. Some other changes I made were adding some buttons and pockets. Unfortunately, I could not find quite big enough buttons here in Fukuyama, which would please my mom as well, so the ones I ended up adding are just a tiny bit too small, hence they unbutton quite easily.
The pockets turned out alright, though I probably should have picked up the pocket stitches the other side, to keep the "lip" on the right side, making them lie flatter, than they do now. Luckily the pink edge helped a lot in this regard.
As for the sleeves, I decided to lose the second set of decreases completely, and I'm glad I did. They are nice and loose now, easy to wear over another sweater. I also knit them a bit long, as I like my sleeves on the longer side, thinking my mom can roll back the pink cuff if she needs to.I also decided to crochet the belt instead of knitting it, but forgot to use a bigger hook for casting on, and it curls. Oh well, it adds an interesting design element.
Overall I'm satisfied with the project, and I'm glad I finished it. My mom likes it a lot, too, and that's always a plus, especially as I'm quite sure it'll be the last one for a while. It's now my husband's, dad's, and brother's turn to receive something. (^_^)v
So nice!!! It looks really warm and cozy. You really make me wish I knew how to knit!
ReplyDeleteThank you! (^_^)v I'm just glad it's finally done.
DeleteGyonyoru kardigan ,koszonom kicsi lanyom
ReplyDeleteNagyon orulok hogy tetszik! Tudom sokaig vartal ra, de remelem melegen tart. (^^)d
Delete