Finally A Finished Cardigan!!!

If you can't tell by the title of my post I am pretty excited that this cardigan is finally finished!  You see I love to knit but all I seem to knit are hats, scarves, toys and household stuff.  The two times I have attempted to make things for myself to wear I have finished them but they have been far from perfect.  Therefore, I never wore them and they ended up getting frogged or being given away.

I was determined to make myself something I would actually wear.  I did a bit of searching online and finally settled on a simple pattern to start with.  I bought my yarn and then I let it sit in my sewing room for about 6 months.  You know just for fun!  I finally bit the bullet and jumped into this project at the end of January and finally it is finished.

Pattern: Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan by Knitty
Yarn: Moda Vera Snuggle
Needles: 5.5mm & 6.5mm circulars (I had to size up to get guage)
Start/End Date: 30th Jan 2013 - 18th March 2013

I am so happy with how this has turned out and I think I will definitely wear it.  It is so comfortable and warm.  The perfect cardigan for winter!  This cardigan has given me the confidence that I can actually make things for myself to wear.  I have already cast on my next project!  I think the reason I went wrong so many times before was I didn't do a gauge swatch.  For larger projects gauge swatches are so important so I will definitely be making sure I do them from now on.

Stashbusting!

During June and my shopping ban I tried to make some projects up out of stash material/yarn instead of buying new supplies. The shorts I made were from fabric that had been in my stash for at least 6 months. This yarn has been in the stash even longer.

Pattern: Abalone by Beata Jezek

Yarn: Spotlight Basics Empire in Russett

Needles: 5mm circulars

Start Date: 15th June 2011

End Date: 1st July 2011

This was a really simple knit. It was nice just to do something simple after knitting Roko and my Mango Sorbet Cardi where I was constantly checking the pattern. Here I just cast on did a few quick increases then knit in stockinette for the rest. Nice, easy knitting! Great for sitting in the front of the tv with some movies.

I left off the ribbing around the front as I wanted to keep it nice and simple. I did however do some ribbing around the sleeves. I have a couple of other projects lined up for some stash yarn but I also have some projects that are in need of new yarn. Maybe for every stash project I do I will allow myself to buy new yarn for one project. That sounds like a plan to me!

Mango Sorbet Cardigan

The long weekend gave me plenty of time to finish up this cardigan that I have been working on for the past few weeks. I am really happy with how it turned out and know that I will actually wear it. Apart from the beanies and scarves I have knitted which I wear all the time I have knitted myself about 3 garments Shalom, Ruby & Lelah. None of which I ever wore! Ruby & Lelah turned out too small and the yarn I used for both did not give at all when blocking so they were never worn. Shalom was great and fit perfectly but it just wasn't my style so again I never wore it. Ruby I would like to make again and this time I will knit a guage swatch to make sure it will fit me.

Pattern: Sunny Cardigan by Pickles

Yarn: Carnival Soft 8 ply & Bella Baby 4 ply

Needle: 4.5mm circulars

Time Taken: 2.5 weeks

Actual Knitting Time: approx 17 hours

Anyway back to my new cardigan which I promise I will wear. I named it the Mango Sorbet Cardigan because the colours remind me of mango wiese bars. This cardigan ended up being a bit smaller on me then it is on everyone else. At first I thought it was just because of my tight knitting and the fact the pattern is for a size small but then I realised I used the wrong needles. I had my 4.5mm circulars in my 6mm circular case so I knit the whole thing in needles that were too small. Again, my fault for not paying attention but I am actually happy with how it turned out because now it is a crop cardigan which is my preferred style.

The pattern was not written very clearly but if you read over it a couple of times before starting you can figure out what is happening. I used Iz's notes on the increases for my increases which made them a lot easier to work out. I also followed suit after seeing Iz's finished cardi and left the ribbing off the sleeves on mine.

All in all I am very happy with how this turned out and would definitely make it again. I am so happy to have finally made a knit garment that I will actually wear. I have also learnt that from now on no matter how much I just want to get on with knitting the garment I will knit a guage swatch first. Oh and before I go Corey wanted me to share this picture with you....

He took it while I was explaining what photo I wanted him to take of my cardi and he though it was hilarious!