Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Thank you Baby Cardigan

You might recall a few months ago I was the lucky recipient of another knitter's (thankfully small but good) stash (the mother-in-law of one of the mums in my my mothers group).  I promised you (and myself) that I would make a little something out of some of the yarn I received for this knitter's granddaughter.  I hoped that this is what the knitter would have wanted.

Last week, I handed over this:
I used some of the Heirloom Merino Magic from the gifted stash.  I didn't have enough of one colour for a whole garment, so thought this was a good pattern for colour-blocking while still being pretty (I didn't want to do stripes as I figured I'd be doing enough stripes for Connor over the next few years!).  I used the cream (2 balls) for the fronts and bands, a whole ball of lilac for the back, and almost a whole ball of green for the sleeves.  I had a ball of blue as well, I initially thought I'd do one sleeve green and one blue, but after finishing one sleeve, I knew I'd have enough for the second sleeve.

Details
Pattern:  Provence Baby Cardigan by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  This is an easy pattern, mostly stocking stitch with a moss-stitch edging and pretty lace leaf motif on the front.  I did make some modifications to the pattern (see the mods section below).

Yarn: Heirloom Merino Magic, 3.5 x 50g balls
Sticks:  4mm KnitPicks Harmony Options (3.75mm for the neckband).

Time:  9 May 2011 - 3 June 2011

Modifications:  I knit the body of the cardigan in one piece - which meant I had to do INTARSIA!!!  I swore never to do intarsia, ever!  Although really, just changing colour twice in each row, in a straight line up the side "seam", probably doesn't count as real intarsia.  But I still did it, and it worked!  Although getting the two balls of cream and one of purple tangled every so often was annoying.  But hey, no seaming!
I also knit the button band at the same time as the body of the cardigan.  This resulted in a bit of a puckered button band (may have also had to do with my not-so-great buttonhole skills!), which probably wouldn't have happened if I'd knit it separate and seamed it on.  Thankfully blocking evened it out, mostly...

And I knit the sleeves in the round, from the top down!  They were basic drop sleeve style sleeves, so it was easy to pick up stitches from the armhole and knit downwards, decreasing at the same rate as the pattern specified increases.  It was a bit messy under the arms, but I stumbled through and fixed it up when I darned in the ends (there were small holes where I'd joined to knit in the round.

I also added neck shaping on the back (so it would come down a bit lower on the back, not right up against the neck).  This was partly because I was worried I'd run out of the lilac yarn with a row or two to spare!  as it was, I only just squeaked it in!

And finally a three needle bind off for the shoulder seams.  And thus no seaming at all in this garment, woo hoo!
And best of all, the mum was very touched by the gesture.  It really is a lovely thing to knit for others.

21 comments:

Bells said...

it is absolutely a lovely thing to knit for others. It's one of the best parts of being a knitter.

Well done you - sounds like you had some fiddly bits a long the way but you got there. I swear I'll never do intarsia too - knowing full well one day I will. But this kind perhaps, not the 'big jar of vegemite on a jumper' kind we grew up with!

It's gorgeous. Really lovely.

Dorothy said...

Lovely cardi and what a great idea to use up that beautiful yarn. Wish I had your talent to modify patterns so there's no seaming ...... I'm not the best at seams and my knitting really suffers ! :(

Sue said...

What a very sweet gesture. The cardigan looks wonderful.

Anonymous said...

such a great use of those colours, and a really lovely pattern as well. yay for no seaming, no matter what other technique was involved. (doesnt look like intarsia to me, heh).

a beautiful thoughtful gift.

MadMad said...

What a great thing to do with the gifted yarn - soooo thoughtful. It's beautiful, too.

Leonie said...

It's beautiful and so appropriate too. Job well done!

kim said...

What a fanastic knit and such a warm and loving gesture. Beautifully done, and kudos to you on the intarsia. You could not get me to do that in a million years!

Caffeine Girl said...

What a lovely way to say thank you. I'm sure the mum was overwhelmed. You've created an heirloom!

Donna Lee said...

It's absolutely adorable. I like the little bit on the front to give it some flair. What a perfect little sweater.

And what a perfectly sweet thing to do.

Mereknits said...

I think this is just the nicest thing for you to do. I bet the Mom was so touched by your kindness and your time. The sweater is wonderful, something they will keep forever as a treasure.
Hugs to you,
Meredith

Anonymous said...

That is gorgeous! It's great how you could customize the colors; that makes it so unique. What a beautiful gift.

Celia said...

I love that little detail in the front.

amy said...

Okay, folks, what's up with the intarsia hate? I don't get it.

This is a very cute cardigan--I like that lace motif--I'll have to go look into it for my girl!

Lynne said...

Well done - a lovely little cardigan.

Gidgetknits said...

That's cute - I like the colours working together - the lilac just pops!

Alwen said...

Aw, that is cuuuute!

The first time I did intarsia, I didn't even know that was what it was. I guess that made it less scary.

That's one thing about being self-taught, I never know when I'm doing stuff that's supposed to be hard. But sometimes I end up doing things the hardest possible way!

1funkyknitwit said...

You did a lovely job Jane and I like the idea of all the colours changes it works well :)

Sarah said...

Nice work with the assorted colours, I'm glad it was well received.

Nice to catch up with your and your lovely FOs - that Bandit shawl is GORGEOUS - I'm definitely considering a third go at that pattern having given away my first two.

Olivia said...

I love your colour-blocking approach and am filing away that idea for future use. And seamless construction is ideal for baby things isn't it? Lovely work!

2paw said...

It is so cute and I would never have imagine it would be so lovely using those colours. But seeing it, it is just so good!! I love the colours and the fact that there was No Seaming!!!

Caffeine Girl said...

That is such a lovely little sweater. Kudos for mastering Intarsia. I'm terrified of it!