Right, so at least one of my unexpectedly long-term projects has come to an end a few days ago. Namely, I finished that knitted toffee colour cardigan I wrote about some time back. The story goes, I had quite a bit of yarn left from the Wedding Gift project, and brave as I am I decided to have a go at making a cardigan out of ample leftovers. I figured a soft toffee colour of the yarn called for an old-school'ish cardi, preferably in textured knit.
And I found a lovely Finnish pattern here, which fit the idea perfectly – it had 3/4 sleeves, crew neckline, button front and pretty lace/aran mix of a pattern. Even its colour was nearly exactly the same as the yarn I had. So, I got myself some fitting needles and started casting on straight away.
That was more than three months ago.
I did not spend that whole time knitting this cardigan, but rather I kept putting it on hold to make things like the Onerva shawl, these fingerless mitts, and a couple of camel wool hats which I probably will be sharing here a bit later. Altogether that took up about a month or so.
The biggest bummer was my own stupid mistake. Remember when I said you shouldn't be afraid to unravel your knitting if you made one here? Well, about two days after that post was published, when I was blocking the body of the cardigan (which, mind it, is a massive single piece comprising of back and both fronts), I realised I knit the wrong size... Chest circumference was too small, so it wouldn't even meet on me.
*Massive sigh* Loathing myself for not double-checking final measurements of the size I picked, there I sat – unravelling the whole thing until there was nothing left but two balls of curly and tired-looking yarn.
To keep my sanity after undoing weeks worth of work, I decided to make sleeves first this time around. When I was making the body once again, this time in the correct size, some things I managed to improve. Which is a poor consolation for having to redo it, but still a nice thing.
I followed the pattern exactly, although I did use slightly smaller needles to achieve the required gauge, 3.25mm instead of 3.5mm. The lace was a bit tricky at first, but once I got hold of it I could do it with my eyes closed. Figuratively, anyway. Also I used a crochet hook to cast off the neckline as well as to hem the cast-on edge, which made the latter look much neater.
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| Embellished collar: ASOS Glass bangles: gift from India |
You can imagine what a relief it was when it was finally finished and looking so good! The [correct] size fit me perfectly, although because of it being quite structured, the fitting is more like that of a jacket rather than a cardigan. It also turned out to be pretty heavy and warm, more than I imagined it would be, anyway.
Here I am wearing it on top of a half-sleeve white blouse with peplum hem that peers out from beneath like a ruffle, and slim black pants (sorry you can't see it here). Surprisingly, the embellished collar complements the cardigan rather nicely, and kind of adds to the old-school feel of it.
3/4 length sleeves are undoubtedly my fav, as I might have mentioned here a few times. The knit work on this one for some reason gives me that vintage'y feel of 40's and 50's, but with a slight touch of countryside chic. So pretty and tender!
Because of its neutral colour, a cardigan like that would be perfect to mix and match with many other colours and styles. It can also be accessorised with skinny belts, collars and brooches to achieve different looks depending on the outfit. Can't wait to play around with it!
As usual, let me know what you think in the comments ;)
E.V.
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