Purple Haze Cardigan

My new cardigan is finally finished - well, it still needs washing and blocking.

Sorry for the picture quality. When I took the pictures it started to rain, just a drizzle... but...



The yarn is the most gorgeous Sirdar Blur in a divine purple colour. The real deal is almost as purple as on the pictures. :-)



The design is originally by Stefanie Japel although I ended up making lots of changes as my replacement yarn (I couldn't get the yarn recommended) knitted up very different despite a gauge test:

I changed the sleeves to flared sleeves, and used ribbing round the waist rather than the cables of the pattern (they just didn't seem to work very well with the yarn, I tried). I also made one of the two wrap straps shorter than the other to avoid too much bulk.

When I tried it on I found it looks best with the longer of the two straps thrown over one shoulder and the other intertwined with it. Looks very 'boheme' that way. :-)

The good news is, I only used just under 3 balls of yarn... so I have two left for another project. :-)

Now I just have to wash and block it and make myself a pretty flower brooch....

In Progress: Icy Shrug

This is what I've been working on when the mermaid shawl got too much. The shawl is very fiddly to do and sometimes I just need some time to think about what I'll do next or how things fit together (it is a bit like a jigsaw).

The shrug is knitted in the same way as the Smolder shrug, but with a few little changes to ensure a better fit (the red shrug is a little looser).


It's not quite finished - hence the stitch holders - because I ran out of yarn. Well, not quite, but I did not have enough to make the bell shaped sleeves I want for this. I'd like to wear it in Summer and Winter, and thought 3/4 length sleeves are therefore better and look prettier with this colour.

I ordered my yarn last week and unfortunately it wasn't in stock - BUT credit to Nicola at YarnBox she ordered it away and it arrived today - one day earlier than expected. :-)



Here you can see the beautiful yarn (Louisa Harding, Grace Handpainted in shade 02, aqua) in detail - I've used a seed stich for the tie:


And here is the plain stotcking stitch:



The yarn is absolutely wonderful to knit with. It has a well defined stitch pattern and the colour variation is well done and there's no pooling. It's half silk, half merino and light and very soft with a beautiful soft sheen. Perfect! I can only recommend it.

The shrug will also have some removable flower brooches (3 altogether) which I can use to dress it up or down. I can't wait for it to be finished as it's just so lovely.... :-)

Smolder Shrug

This shrug took me some time, especially as it was supposed to be a cardigan!



I used a pattern but a different yarn which changed the shape. and so I ended up with a cardigan that just didn't look like it should... Here's a link to the original pattern.

So I unravelled the bottom of the cardigan (it's knitted from the top down) and changed it into a shrug. Much, much better. :-)

The picture doesn't really do it justice, but it's far too hot to try and take more pictures.... You'll get the idea. :-)



The yarn is Rowan Summer Tweed in Smolder and a little of a merino/mulberry silk yarn in a lovely dark red. The Rowan Summer Tweed is half silk half cotton and has a lovely texture.

It was very quick to knit - the whole cardigan only took me 4 days. Without the changes and extras it would have been really easy, however, I prefer my version of it. :-)