Monday 15 December 2008

Show and Tell

This weekend I finally got my husband to take some pictures of my new cardi in a room with actual light in it and everything. I thought taking photos was going to get easier as the leaves fell off the trees and the light could actually make its way into our house. Unfortunately there's not a lot of sunshine these days.
But, to the finished objects with buttons sewn on and worn by real people!

First here's my daughter in her cardigan which I actually finished knitting many moons ago (umm, May apparently from the photographic evidence). Now it's properly finished with some buttons since the cold weather is here and it really doesn't stay on well without buttons done up.

Pattern: February Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman (in the Knitter's Almanac, at ravelry)
Yarn: some I bought in England years and years ago...
Ravelry project page here (not that there's anything new to read there


I like this pattern and will have another go. The fit on this incarnation is kind of weird as you can probably seen in the photo here where my daughter has her arm stretched out. I forget exactly what I did to change the pattern to make it bigger but obviously I didn't do it quite right. So I think next time I'll make a baby one with the pattern as writ and see how that goes before fiddling with things again. Conveniently I have a friend who's due to birth a little girl any day now who (although really she's probably drowning in hand knits already since she and her husband run a knitting website).

Now onto the really exciting part, well for me anyway. It's been quite some time since I made myself anything this big and I've been craving new cardigans since my daughter was born since breastfeeding while wearing a sweater is (I find) a huge pain in the neck and makes discretion challenging. Of course I'm wearing sweaters more again now that my daughter is older and doesn't nurse as much, but I still love cardigans and you know it doesn't hurt to be prepared for the next baby (not that I'm pregnant you understand but we do want to have another baby in the not too distant future if we can).

Pattern: Gathered Cardi from Knit.1 Spring/Summer 2008 (at ravelry)
Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool Solids in Eggplant
Modifications: lengthened a little before gathers; increased just two out of every three stitches at the gathers; sleeves are a little longer here (and also worn unfolded in these pics); oh and 2 buttons rather than one (and I seem to have managed to put the button holes on the wrong side, oh well)
Ravelry project page


I've been wearing this a lot. I like it. I'm glad I didn't increase at the gathers quite as much as the pattern called for as what I did gives quite enough bulk. The problem with this sweater is that I need to remember to remove it when cooking because it is at just the "right" length to drag on the burners of the stove when I reach over then to work the controls... I have managed to avoid singeing or setting it on fire so far. Perhaps this is just a reminder to me that I should put an apron on when I cook anyway.

This was a good knit for me because it's fairly quick and simple (I could knit in front of the tv, or around my daughter, or in the car without worrying about interruptions at critical points). I like the feel of this yarn. It does seem to have started to pill a little already and while I have been wearing it a lot that's only over the course of a week.

2 comments:

Hege said...

Your cardigan is adorable! And your little daughter's jacket is, too!

Anonymous said...

Mother-and-daughter knits! Love it :o)