| Pattern: | Olive Basket Cardigan by Amy Miller |
| Size: | 2 (36″) |
| Yarn: | Drops Cotton Merino in purple (27) and beige (3) |
| Grams used: | 7,5 (375g) balls of purple and 3 balls (150g) of beige |
| Alterations: |
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| Needles: | 4 mm (US 6/UK 8) circular needles in different cable widths, ranging from 40 cm on the collar to 80 cm on the fronts to 100 cm on the bottom |
| Make Again? | Yes, but maybe in the smallest size then |
Yay, my projects for the 2015 Outfit-Along are finished! I can’t believe I made it in time. Since all the pictures were posted to a ravelry group and the cardigan has by far been my more adventurous make, I’ll start with it and show you the dress in a separate post. Sooo … let me introduce you to my first ever cardigan (Wooohooo!).
This is the Olive Basket Cardigan pattern by Amy Miller and it was perfect for dipping my toes into the sweater-knitting-waters: Lots of stockinette stitch but collar and cuffs in single basketweave, to mix things up. I made a striped version for the same reason.
Looking at it right now I still can’t believe that what I spend two months knitting on, turned into a beautiful wearable garment. I learned so much from knitting this pattern! How to make stripes, how to do short rows, how to knit a beautiful edge, how to seam, … the list is endless.
It’s not perfect (of course not, I’m no knitting rookie goddess) but more perfect than I thought it would be. There’s one or two messed up rows, and a few transitions from stripes to basketweave turned out a bit wonky. Oh, and one sleeve is miraculously bigger than the other. Just slightly. No idea how that happened.
All in all, nothing I couldn’t live with.
I’m a bit afraid concerning the yarn though: It’s Drops Cotton Merino, a superwash yarn that got chosen for its price (I didn’t want to spend a fortune, for fear of screwing up the project). But about halfway through the Outfit-Along, I heard on the knit.fm podcast, that superwash yarns are actually coated with polymer and tend to wear out, because they don’t retain their form like natural wool.
Another small thing is that I probably won’t wear this cardi with this dress. With the full skirt it just creates a too tent-like silhouette. A shorter cardigan that fitted at the waist would go much better with the Cambie. That being said, I’m sure Olive Basket will look great paired with some navy skinny jeans or a mini skirt and nice top. It’s definitely going to get worn (jeez, I spent two entire months making it – I should never take it off!), just not so much with dresses.
This thing was a real confidence-booster and now I want to make nothing but sweaters and cardigans.
But first, I’m off to finish some freelance projects that I’m working on right now. I’m going to miss my 5 minute reward-knitting breaks :)
You can read about the Cambie Dress I made to go with this cardigan right here.
