Sunday, August 14, 2016

K Belle baby cardigan and surprisingly good mystery yarn

I just finished this little cap sleeve cardigan for a former coworker of mine. She moved down to Louisiana so it's not like the baby needs to be warmed up in a long-sleeved wool sweater. I was glad to take a little break from tiny baby sleeves, though I picked a lace pattern and I had to rework it a lot!
The yarn was from a destash so it’s a mystery, but after doing a burn test and looking through many many pages of yarn on Ravelry I think it’s either Drops Cotton Viscose or GGH Mystik (though it’s variegated and I’ve pretty much only found solids).
Originally, before I found out that friend was pregnant, I was trying to make myself some kind of slinky summer tank top, though I really had no plan there and was considering buying more yarn hoping it would match in texture to finish out the garment. I was thinking some kind of colorblocking with the pink variegated in back and the front (which would require more shaping) in a solid- navy blue or soft green or shiny black, and I was even considering buying all those color choices because it's hard to complement a colorway without doing it in person. This Pink/peach/yellow I thought could easily look awkward next to plenty of colors.
of course, buying more stash wasn't helping my over all goal of knitting down the stash. I'm almost relieved I found another project, even if it meant cranking out another baby sweater- I had just done three in a row!!
I knit and ripped and knit and ripped SO MANY TIMES, so worried I'd overshoot and run out of yarn. I have a scale but it's a little vintage thing I got at an estate sale and although I'm totally charmed by its looks, it's analog and only really measures to 5 gram increments. The yarn frogged pretty smoothly, thank goodness,  and the blocking at the end smoothed things out a lot.
As I got to the center of the ball (I had bought it wound up in a tight ball, like I said, mystery destash) I had a sneaking suspicion it was wound around a cardboard tube and that there was even less than I expected. I rewound it around a giant bread tie (from who knows where. hoard your junk, people), and the leftover was ready to be included with the finished cardigan as a little extra sewing/repair yarn. Or an insert in the baby scrapbook. whatever!

The buttons on the back are just fun cause I had so many bright yellows from one of those mixed bag things and I don't know how to say no to a set. Hey, I've got  a stash of buttons to work through as well, ok?