Cardigan
For a good while now I’ve been feeling a little…..well….out-socked if I’m honest. I’m loving my little Giotto socks, which have now almost reached the toe (and I’m not giving up on them – honest!), but I just feel like a change.
I’m a bit of a cardigan girl and I’ve been going through all my patterns looking for the perfect cardigan. I’m very, very tempted by Melissa La Barre’s Tea Leaves cardigan, especially after Mel told me what a delight it is this week. Here it is…
What do you think? Pretty gorgeous I should say!
But…there had to be a but, didn’t there?….I don’t have any yarn in my stash to knit it with and I REALLY REALLY want to stick to using up the stash right now. So I guess Tea Leaves will have to wait.
I found this lovely pattern – Otello by Louisa Harding from her lovely book Cardigan.
This is absolutely the sort of cardigan that I can really see me wearing. It’s chunky, but shaped in to the waist a little to avoid that unflattering sack of potatoes feeling. Somehow it manages to be chunky and elegant at the same time – although I suspect the model in the photo may be one of those women who would still look good if she was wearing a sack.
Anyway, with Otello in mind I had a little dig around in my yarn baskets – discovering things along the way that I’d totally forgotten about. Including some rather delightful Lamb’s Pride Bulky in blue magic. Rather charming – 85% wool and 15% mohair – coincidentally exactly the amount I need. I’m sure I bought it with a project in mind – and not this one either – but it was so long ago I have no idea now what it could have been.
So here you find me – knitting away infront of Wimbledon on a pair of ginormous needles! I feel like I’ve gone from the sublime to the ridiculous on the needles front. This project is the absolute pole opposite of the Giotto socks. I can’t get over how quickly it’s growing. It’s been a long, long time since I made something like this.
It’s really rather nice!
Helen
June 30th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
this is proceeding great, but I hope you find some yarn to make the Tea Leaves cardigan…it’s beautiful too. I can’t believe how quickly you whip up these projects!
June 30th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Oh Helen-you temptress you-now I want to knit and I do so need to finish up my quilting UFOs (when I started quilting I swore that I would finish one project before starting another). I will control myself and keep on with my retreat project, finish my Jacob’s ladder, round robin, and then Meadowsweet but perhaps I’ll look into finding a pattern and picking up some wool to have something to work on during the evening
June 30th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
I love the first one, especially the yoke. But I like the other one two and I know you’ll do a beautiful version. Can’t wait to see.
June 30th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Hi Helen! I must say I agree with you on the subject of cardigans. I love both of the cardigans that you have put up, but there is something wonderful about a bit of waist shaping in a quick knit with a bulky yarn. I can’t wait to see your finished project!! I applaud the way you are sticking to your plan of using up stash (I’ve been trying to do the same thing – reading about your progress will help me keep at it).
I have been working on a summer cardigan myself; I’ll have to put it up on the blog. By the way, thanks for visiting my blog – you’re my very first comment!
June 30th, 2011 at 7:02 pm
I just grabbed my Tea Leaves when I came in, now it’s all chilly – would we have believed that on Tuesday?!! :O Anyway, love this cardi, I think I may well live in it for the rest of the year at least…
Your choice looks great – is the colour on the pic true to the original because it’s gorgeous?!! Lavender, mmmh! I don’t think I could get away with this chunky but it will surely be pretty on you – how big ARE those needles ;o?
July 1st, 2011 at 10:53 am
You always choose such beautiful colour yarns! I seem to have a lot of grunge in my yarn stash at the moment. Plus I still haven’t picked up my needles – doing too much writing at the mo. OK, and swimming, I confess!