I always feel like I should knit more cardigans. Everyone loves them and talks about how easy they are. And then I knit one and it sits for three weeks without buttons, and I wonder, What's easy about this? If it were a pullover, I'd be wearing it by now. I hate picking out buttons for the same reason I hate deciding where to hang pictures on the walls. It feels permanent, and a bad decision will ruin things and haunt me for the rest of eternity. Perfection is the enemy of done.
I couldn't find pink buttons that I liked or were the right size, so I went with white buttons with little white embossed flowers on them. I sewed one on and instantly knew it wasn't right. I showed my husband, and he put his finger right on it. The white button was almost silvery, and the rest of the cardi is golden. "Yellow would be better," he said. Inspired!
One trip to the fabric store later and I had perfect non-haunting buttons, and later that day had a finished cardi. Thanks, Honey!
Pattern: Wasabi by Amber Bertram. It's a free pattern!
Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll Tonal. This is a great sock yarn because it wears really well. It's not luxurious, but for a child's sweater, it should be a good fit. I bought two skeins, but it only took one. I turned the second one into a Cachou cowl.
The yarn is tonal, and the very second I stopped the front V-neck increases, I got intense pooling. This yarn has a tiny golden streak, and it was creating a little pot of gold in the back left. So I alternated rows working both sides of my skein, and that fixed the problem. It's not very noticeable from the front.
Process: This one was fun to knit. You start with a provisional cast on for the center back lace panel, and do short rows in lace to make the panel curve over the shoulders. Short rows in lace! Knitting is amazing. When you knit to where the raglan increasing begins, you pick up stitches along the lace panel and start your increases. After that, it's a normal top-down raglan cardi. I was actually done before I knew it, and was a little sad to see it end!
The sleeves have a little cuff detail. I don't think I followed the directions exactly, partly because I couldn't really understand them and partly because I figured out how to do it myself. I love that little detail.
Product: I love it, and it fits my daughter very well, with a little room to grow for the summer. It does look like it will be a little loose around the shoulders, and other Ravelers have commented as such. I don't think it will be a huge problem, though.
New techniques: Mmm, none really. Asking my husband for button advice?
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