Success!

At last I've knitted something I not only like but can actually wear.  Something with practical use!  Isn't the colour just glorious?  It's Sirdar Escape Chunky (Shade 0197 - I can't remember the proper name for it!) which I got on sale.  It was a spontaneous purchase, completely unplanned.  I then glanced through my knitting magazines and discovered a simple cardigan pattern for a chunky wool.  It's supposed to have a fur collar, which was the main feature, not really my thing, but the plain garter stitch collar I thought worked out really well.  It's warm without being too thick, just right for the wildly random London spring weather.

It looks particularly fantastic closed with a shawl pin I got free from a copy of Simply Knitting.  At the time, I didn't like the colour much as it isn't a colour I wear, nor did it match anything, but by chance, it looks fantastic with this cardigan!  

Details:  Pattern is from Simply Knitting Issue 89.

Things I would have done differently:  the hem.  You're supposed to cast on with the thumb method but I have no idea what that is.  I presume it gives a neater edge?  Whatever, without a rib, it naturally curled up several inches.  I blocked it carefully with damp cloths and about ten thousand pins but it began to curl up again.  Realising this was going to be a problem (AFTER I'd finished the back and front sections), I decided to do a proper sew-up hem for the sleeves which was also a mistake.  Too chunky!  What I should have done was just knit the first row into the back of the stitch.  I'd forgotten about this!  It produces a neat edge and might even have prevented all the rolling up it does.  

No matter.  The delicious colours and practicality make up for any errors!

I've got a letter and pic in Simply Knitting!

My coffee and Kindle covers have been published in Simply Knitting magazine!
Always a thrill!!!

Tangerine Dream

Isn't it lovely when you find success after total failure?!!  After trying on my new cardi and discovering it was, well, bloody awful, I went off and did what I was supposed to do:  I sewed on the buttons and I laid it out flat on a towel, pinned it into shape (though there wasn't much shape to it) and covered it with a damp cloth.  I've never done any blocking before....too much bother in my book.  Golly, WHAT a difference.  I mean, the cardi looks exactly the same but somehow it just seems to hang better.  The hem is flatter and even the set-in armhole looks smoother.
Sigh....WHAT a relief.  So I'm not a total knitting write-off after all.

Isn't the colour lovely?!

That strange white fleck you see was in the yarn itself.  I thought it looked rather interesting!  The beautiful crochet blanket you see is on my bed and is a work of art created by my mother when I was in my late teens, so I've had it a while!  Many years later when I asked her how to crochet granny squares she said she'd forgotten!  What a shame - I would so love to be able to crochet a granny square blanket for my daughter.
And yes, the third button is different.  I didn't have a third one but since it's in a different position, I hoped the Button Police wouldn't mind!!