Lauriel Cardigan

Even though I've been busy with the starlet suit jacket, I put the final touches on my red cardigan. This is the lauriel cardigan from Ysolda Teague, featured in the book Little Red in the City. I used the recommend yarn: manos del uruguay silk blend in the color tomato. My buttons, which I love, are from M&J trimming in NYC. I got a gift certificate for Christmas, which I also used on a bit of matching ribbon for the button bands.

I've knit with the yarn before but for some reason it was FULL of knots. The yarn had been broken at least once per skein and then the ends knotted together. So I had to weave in a lot of extra ends, which is annoying. 

I'm not all that happy with the fit, I made a swatch, checked my gauge and tried on as I went and it still seems a little big. I made some slight changes from the original sweater. I omitted the extra pattern details on the waist, and the sleeve, for a simpler design. I made the sleeves 3/4 length as well, I like my sleeves that length.

I also tried a different finishing technique, I hand sewed grosgrain ribbon to the button band, after attaching the buttons. Just a simple slip stitch to attach the ribbon, and it gives the buttons a clean look and a little more stability.

The pattern was very clear and well written, as well as had a great range of sizes: 30-58. I suspect that the sizes run a little big, the other sweaters that I have seen seem on the larger size too. If I make another sweater from her book, I will definitely make the next size down.

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Valentine Cardigan

I've been knitting this little cardigan since March and I finally made myself finish it. This is the Valentine Cardi from Spud and Chloe and designed by Laura Chau. The stitch is a lacy rib, that was very easy to knit, I just didn't work on it very much, so it took so long to finish. This is a botton up cardigan knit in one piece until the armholes. I used two skeins of Madelinetosh tosh merino light in tangerine. I just love this color, but it was very hard to find buttons that were the right shade.  I originally bought some orange mirrored buttons from M&J trimming, but they were just not right, I found the perfect shade of orange at the local fabric store.

I made some minor changes to this pattern. I made sort little cap sleeves, instead of the elbow length in the picture. I also made it a little bit shorter. This sweater is not blocked. The stitch will stretch out a lot when wet, so leaving it unblocked gives it a cropped look. I learned a new technique from this pattern, the stich in 1 row button hole, which sounds hard but is actually easy and gives the buttonhole a very finished, professional look. This video here, helped me a lot. 

I'm so glad I finally finished this sweater, even though it can probably only be worn a few times before it gets too cold out.  I can see myself wearing this over and over again in the spring and summer.

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