Wool Cardigan

The poor child got shown this yarn when I first bought it in July 2011. That is SIX AND A HALF YEARS AGO! She waited so patiently for her cardigan, dear love. Luckily she still likes purple.

This Hayfield Bonus Aran is only 20% wool, but it feels as though it has a much higher wool content. It feels wooly and soft, but not poly-soft. The yarn comes in the most enormous ball: 400g at once. The good part is that there are no joins between balls, and you never leave your spare balls behind. The bad part is that the ball gets in a bit of a mess as you knit with it because it falls apart as you go along. A lot of re-winding was necessary. But... no joins!

I eventually started knitting it up in January 2016. That is TWO YEARS AGO! I used the same pattern as a previous cardigan for her, the Lace Panel Cardigan from Fabulous Knits. I cast on for the 6-7 year size again, expecting that it might be a size or two larger in the Aran weight wool.

It was absolutely enormous! Larger than the ball of yarn. It was massively large on me. So I put it aside for another YEAR AND A HALF and re-cast on for the size 2-3 this summer.

I did a rib waistband. I should have stuck with my original 2x2 rib and a thicker band. This one is 1x1 and only about 1 inch deep so it is prone to flipping up - which is something I hate about home knits.

I had to re-think the raglan sleeves so that I could join them to the body and keep knitting. I should have left a stitch between the decreases to make a thicker seam, rather than a row of eyelets, but otherwise it worked well. I had to re-knit a section because I was decreasing too fast and I needed the height of the shoulder to be taller. I think I switched from decreasing every second row to every fourth row, but we tried it on as we went along, and it is pretty quick by the time you get to this part of the shoulders. My actual notes are on Ravelry.

I seamed the sleeves rather than knitting in the round. My rounds show where the needles break the pattern and never look as nice as flat knitting. So I chose to have one seam under the arm rather than four breaks all around.

I am in two minds as to whether I think the seamed on button bands are necessary or not. On the one hand, they allow you to stretch the bands into place, making the edges firmer and giving a good finish. They also allow you to place the buttonholes evenly, especially if you are making up the size as you go along - as I was. I suppose, on reflection, the seaming is worth it, albeit painful at the time. I very nearly didn't finish because of this seaming.

I only had six of the metal buttons so I couldn't add any more, and had to make do with the button placement as it is. One extra would have been perfect. I sewed them on to the first button band and left the knitting of the second one to match up the buttons with the buttonholes as I knitted up. This is the edge that I nearly didn't finish. Luckily, I am not one to allow myself to get going with a new project until the old one is finished.

I did make an exception of a PussyHat, in case Baby Donald showed up in town and I needed to go to a protest at short notice. I also needed a de-stress knitting project and this was the right sort of mindless knitting that is just what the doctor ordered.