Finished Object: Ballad Pullover

I’ve finished a sweater, and I don’t want to take it off!

Finished Object: Southwell Cardigan

Hi friends, and happy weekend!  Today, I’m really happy to be sharing a finished object that’s been a long time in the making …. it’s my finished Southwell Cardigan!

The Southwell Cardigan made it’s first appearance on the blog … let’s see … over 2 years ago! I was living in Philadelphia and had flown home to my parents for a little visit, and my mom and I cast these on together!

On and off progress continued on Southwell the following summer when I was in LA (including a bit of cardigan surgery), but by the time I arrived in Lancaster in late August, with temperatures already cool, I put the lightweight cardigan aside, thinking it wouldn’t be needed before the following spring.  And thus it was consigned to my heap of unfinished objects.

Then, spring did in fact come, and the cardi sat no nearer completion, I fished it out again, thinking what a great wardrobe staple it’d be through the British summer. I picked up collar stitches, I started a sleeve, I made plans to get the buttonband finished.  But once again, autumn came, the cardigan wasn’t done, and back to to the UFO bin it went.

Fast forward to this spring, a day or two before EYF.  My Threipmuir was fresh off the needles (yay!), and I found myself without a simple project to take for social knitting at EYF and remembered I was part way through a sleeve of my Southwell! So the cardigan came with me to the festival, and one sleeve got done. Then I packed it for my trip to the US and returned with only button bands to be done. By that point, not even my dislike of picking up stitches (or sewing on buttons) could stand in the way of finishing.

And I have to say, I’m so glad I did.  I’ve worn this cardigan nearly every day since I finished it. The pattern is Southwell Cardigan by Marie Green, knit in Sherwood Yarns Bluefaced Leicester Sock in shade Holly Blue.  I think it was easy to keep shoving this aside as I’d started to wonder whether I liked this color, and the knitting wasn’t particularly exciting.  But now that it’s done, I’m really enjoying having a simple lightweight cardigan in my handmade wardrobe and have also been pleasantly surprised with how well the color, which is a bit out of my normal palette, fits in with the rest of my wardrobe.

The cardigan is a great fit around the shoulders, but the knot in my overalls is making a funny bulge in this picture! 

I knit size 36 of this cardigan, and ended up using less than three skeins of yarn.  I knit this top down, raglan cardigan pattern (from what I can remember) pretty much as written.  Since I picked it up and put it down over, ahem, two years, there was a certain amount of guesswork getting things like sleeves to match up. I did alter the button band slightly. Following advice from Jen Arnall-Culliford, I picked up every stitch of the button band on the first row, then decreased down as needed.  I found that the suggested pick up rate of 9 out of 10 stitches gave me a button band that flared out, so decreased to something between 3 out of every 4 or 4 out of every 5.

Before I sign off, I just want to take a final moment to celebrate the little buttons that grace this cardigan. Before we left Los Angeles, Mr. N and I took a trip over to West Hollywood to The Button Store, without a doubt the most impressive button shop I’ve ever been in.  I had several projects that would need buttons in what I thought was the near future, including this cardi, and the formidable woman who ran the place came out with drawer upon drawer of buttons to fit the bill.  I chose these little milled Italian buttons, and while I had a bit of a shock when we rang up my button purchases (I’ve never before or since paid so much for buttons — and I hadn’t thought to ask the price!), I have to say I am so pleased with how they look on the cardigan.  If you find yourself in Los Angeles and on the hunt for very nice buttons, I definitely recommend a visit (just please don’t tell the owner I used yarn to sew these on — she categorically forbade me from doing it, but I lost the spool of coordinating thread I got on the same visit!)

Thanks, as always, for stopping by, and I hope you have a lovely weekend with a bit of knitting planned!

xo K

 

Finished Object: Northern Yarn St Catherines

Hi friends and happy … whatever day today is! I’m coming at you jetlagged from a mild, if slightly damp, Melbourne to tell you about my most recent finished object, St Catherines.  I cast off, blocked, and photographed it a couple of weeks ago, but couldn’t find the time that this project  deserved to write a nice, fulsome post.  But now, even if I’m not quite officially done with work ahead of the holidays, things are definitely feeling relaxed, so I thought I’d take a bit of time this afternoon to tell you about this bold and generous a-bit-more-than-a-shrug, but not-quite-a-cardi that I’ve been working on during the last several months.

Finished Object: Lotta Dress

Hello hello friends!

Despite my best intentions (and a backlog of things to tell you about), I’m still struggling to write here as often as I’d like. I’m going to give some thought to why that is and try to come up with a plan … I do really value this space and having a chance to chat in the comments and don’t want to let it completely fall by the wayside.

Case in point … I finished my Lotta Dress at the end of October, got photos a few weeks ago, and am only today managing to share it with you!

Finished Object: Bracken Beanie!

I don’t know about the rest of you (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least!) but from where I sit, winter doesn’t seem to be going anywhere fast.  The days are (thankfully!) getting a bit longer, but the cold, wind, and damp are very much alive and well.  And the hat I keep reaching for again and again is my recently completed Bracken Beanie, which I was lucky enough to test knit for the very talented Jenni Barrett.  And good news — if you need a scrummy hat to keep you and yours warm during the winter that’s still to come, the pattern is now available on Ravelry!

Finished Object: Cross Country Fade! And a Giveaway!

Well this post has been a long time coming!  But, I’ve finally woven in the ends and blocked my Find Your Fade!

Featured FO: Talmadge Cloche

Yesterday evening, just as the last bits of color were fading from the sky, Mr. N and I decided to take advantage of the dry evening and pop out for an evening walk.  Even though it’s only early September, it’s already feeling quite cool in Lancaster (or “fresh” as I’ve noticed the weather reporters are calling it).  Unfortunately, the delivery of our things from the US has been delayed, so I don’t even have a jacket with me at the moment, but as I was about to walk out the door, wrapped up in my Starting Point, it occurred to me that I do have a woolly hat with me — my Talmadge Cloche, which I finished just before we left Los Angeles!  So I popped it on and resolved I’d remember to tell you a bit about it before the weekend was out.

Finished Starting Point, at last

Hi friends, and happy Sunday!

I’m excited to finally show you a finished object — meet my ginormous Starting Point shawl:

Featured FO: Droving Socks

Hello, dear readers, and happy Sunday!

I’ve got some finished socks to share with you today — the first of many FO posts this month, hopefully!

I finished these right before Christmas, so they’re not my first finished object of the year, but I’m pretty darn excited about them :

 

Finished Asagi!

Hi friends, and happy Sunday!

I finished my Asagi last weekend, and I’ve been wanting to share it with you!