Today's the day! I've been wanting to make a video series showing all the particulars of all the sweaters I've knit FOR AGES, and now I have finally started it. I've been knitting sweaters for 12 years and I have now finished 37 sweaters in that time. Crazy! Since it's so many, I'm breaking this up into a series and I will showcase about 5 sweaters n each episode. In each of these videos, I will talk about the yarn and pattern used, what the making process was like, any changes I had to make, and what I think of them now. It's a lot to go over, but if you want to get the real knitty gritty on lots of different sweater patterns, then this is the series for you :) Head over to My You Tube Channel or click through the video box below to watch.
January always gets me in the mood for new projects, and this year I went a little more wild than usual. Something about the holidays making me feel like I must get certain projects done leads to the following time where there are no rules and I can just do what I want - which this year seems to mean make all the things. Come and see what my new projects will be and let me know which is your favorite!
Did you know that you don't always have to buy a new pattern to make the sweater you're dreaming of? I had a specific look I was going for with my Crazy Rainbow Cardigan, but I wasn't finding any patterns in my stash that ticked all the boxes perfectly. Instead of buying a new one, I just found a pattern with the bones of what I wanted and then with a few easy alterations, I now have a sweater I love. Head over here or click through the box below to watch the video on My You Tube Channel.
It's finally finished! This cardigan was a labor of love ... that I kept setting aside for other holiday projects lol. It turned out really great though, so I'm glad we finally got there.
The body was smooth sailing. I ran out of the first skein of yarn just after splitting for the sleeves, so I started alternating the two remaining skeins from there out. I did end up with some color pooling, but that was unavoidable in such a crazy yarn as this, so I'm fine with it. Funny that I wound up with a black hole in the middle of my back though. I tried out the cabled ribbing on the bottom, but it looked too crazy in this yarn so I just changed to 2x2 ribbing.
I didn't want to add a perpendicular line to the front of the sweater by using the variegated yarn for the button bands, so I dug in my stash and found this Valley Yarns Charlemont in Black that I used on my Emelie Cardigan years ago. It was the perfect color black and I think it worked out really well. I also changed the neck band to be 2x2 rib and added a button. I did end up reknitting one of the sleeves after this was done. I didn't like the look when I had alternated every row, so I pulled back and alternated every other row and it looks much more consistent with the rest of the sweater.
For the buttons, I came across these long neglected book shaped ones in my stash and thought, "Why not?" I bought a whole tube of these in The Sewing Studio clearance for like $2 probably 8 years ago and I've never found anything to use them on. What better time to use silly buttons than on a silly sweater? They were the right size and blend in with the black while still standing out just a bt from their shiny texture. They look much better on than I even anticipated.
So that is my crazy rainbow cardigan :) I've been wearing this a lot since finishing it and I'm honestly happier with it than I thought I would be when I started. Yay for fun surprises!
I've also made a video review of this sweater on my YouTube Channel if you want to see more particulars :) Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a direct video.
Summary:
Yarn: 2.67 skeins La Bien Aimee Sock yarn in Chihiro and No Face colorway - $45.00, 0.19 skeins Valley Yarns Charlemont in Black - Free