knit | little home by hand

Done, my first knitted cardigan is officially finished!

Can you tell I’m excited? I absolutely loved knitting this, it was a great evening project to have on hand while watching a series (soo hooked on Game of Thrones).
Started in late December it took just two months to complete. I’d been meaning to knit a cardigan for years but considered it beyond my skills. Why do we always let fear keep us from just jumping in? The Shapely Boyfriend cardigan turned out to be a very easy, straighforward pattern and an enjoyable knit. Not to mention I love the result!
My Ravelry Project page.

I knit the size 34 on Drops Nepal yarn in this lovely butterscotch yellow colorway. My knitting got looser after starting on the body and I worried the cardigan would turn out to be too big. My stokinette back and forth knitting is also much more uneven than when I knit on DPNs. Thankfully both issues were improved by washing and blocking and while it is a tiny bit big I’m completely in love with it!

I’m now a sweater knitting convert, I had so much fun making this that I can’t wait to start my next cardigan or sweater. I’ve been browsing patterns on Ravelry for days, trying to decide on my next project.
Buying natural clothing has been my goal for years. Cotton, silk or viscose shirts are not hard to find, but real wool sweaters is another matter. Wool is not only a natural fiber it also keeps warmer than synthetic fibers, important for me as I get cold so easily in winter. Finding that I can just knit my own is such a revelation!

The only changes I made to the pattern was to shorten it by about 10 rounds and to space the buttonholes more evenly between the ribbing (as a result it has only 6 buttons instead of 7)

Worn with my handmade half-circle skirt. The necklace is by Native Clutter on Etsy.

After holding out for the longest time among my friends, I finally caved and got a smartphone. In my defence, I didn’t actually buy it, it was second-hand from a friend who didn’t need it any more. My friends are delighted that I finally have WhatsApp.
For me the draw of course was that I got to dream up and make a case for it. I knew I wanted to knit, not sew, one this time and thought about how I was going to do it, make it one rectangle or two, how it would look when I joined the seams and so on. And then I thought ‘duh, I can just make a sock for it and it won’t need any seams at all!’

I used some coarse natural wool I bought years ago, knitting two strands together to make it even thicker.

A super easy, quick project and somehow I love the rough natural look in contrast to the sleek and shiny phone.