FO: Belladonna Cardigan

Now that I've posted all my Christmas gifts (and I finally got pictures of this), I can finally post about my last make of 2023 - The Belladonna Cardigan. I had a goal to finish this before the end of the year, and then I got sick on Christmas, which facilitated several days where I only wanted to knit, and I got it done, lol. I don't recommend this method, but it did work well. I  managed to knit a sleeve a day and got her done.

This project started back in October and was formulated around some stash yarn. I was given 3 skeins of this  Dream in Color Classy yarn in the Spring Tickle colorway and I love a challenge for making a sweater out of just 3 skeins of worsted weight yarn. This yarn is just lovely - it's a hand dyed tonal green with flecks of browns throughout and I just love it. I was listening to the audiobook of Frankenstein when I started this, so the color felt very apropos. 

Now enter my usual designer for limited yarn - Andi Satterlund. I grabbed this pattern before she closed up shop for good and I'm so glad I did, but sadly it is no longer available to purchase. The pattern is a cropped, fitted, 50s style cardigan with lace panels. There is a larger lace panel for the front and back and then a smaller one for the sides. I love this style of sweater, so I was keen to make this pattern up at last. Unfortunately, this sweater was a bit more of a mental workout than I was expecting. The lace charts are very easy, but they are SO SIMILAR to each other. Despite my best efforts, I could never remember which row I had just done because everything is so close from one line to the next. I had to actually mark which row I was on in each chart as I went and then erase that and mark the next one or else I had to rip back because I messed up. This happened a lot, which is why this sweater took so long to finish. 

Since I've made a lot of Andi's patterns, I've managed to really hone in the fit for myself. This time I decided to cast on the size Small for the shoulder area and then increase out to Medium at the bust, which really worked a treat for my narrow shoulders. Since this lace is so stretchy, I honestly could have made the shoulders even narrower, but this is definitely very good as it is too. I also extended the torso a bit to reach my natural waist, which is always a gamble when I'm working with limited yarn, but it worked out just fine. The shaping for this design is done in the purl channels on the front and back and it looks like darts, which I think is really neat. 

One drawback with jumping right in on a hand dyed yarn is that there can be variations between the skeins even in the same dye lot. Just under my bust, you can see the the lower skein is a smidge darker. Oddly this isn't as big of a deal as it could have been because of where this line hits - I think it kind of just looks like a shadow. I wish I had thought to alternate skeins when I started the project, but oh well.

The sleeves are always the final part I knit on stash bust projects and this was the length I could get out of the amount of yarn I had, which I think turned out great. I love elbow length sleeves. The sleeve construction is neat too - you actually knit from the inside out so you can get even purls on the outside without worrying about tension. I think the sleeves really show off the tonal aspect of this yarn.

The buttons bands are lined with my usual rayon petersham ribbon in a matching color. I had to restock my stash of ribbon and I grabbed the next several colors I will need to make shipping worth it, so this is thankfully an exact match and looks very nice if I do say so myself. The buttons are some nice mother of pearl style ones from my stash that have just a hint of the yellow flash they sometimes can get, which compliments the yarn wonderfully. I'm really happy with how these look and that I didn't have to go out in search of matching buttons. Yay stash!

Realistically, this is how I will wear this sweater, and I like it this way too. This cropped length and this color don't exactly go with very much of my wardrobe, so I'm tempted to make a dress or more brownish skirts to wear with it. 

So that's my Belladonna cardigan :) Even though the pattern gave me a harder time than I anticipated, I am really happy with the finished product. I think the fit is great and the yarn is even more lovely after blocking - I don't know that I've had any other yarn bloom and soften this much with blocking before, truly. The texture change of this was a wonderful bonus. I'm glad I decided to make this up entirely from stash and I look forward to figuring out more outfits to wear this with in the future.

Summary:

Yarn: 3 skeins of Dream in Color Classy in the Spring Tickle colorway - Free

Pattern: Belladona by Andi Satterlund

Notions: 1 yard petersham ribbon - $6.50, 7 buttons - $3.00

Time: 2.5 months

Total Cost: $ 9.50