Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Hand knit hooded cardigan for Inky

I was sent some really luxurious, beautiful hand spun yarn to make something for Inky. It is a blend of merino wool, baby alpaca and silk. Wow! I wish I could describe how soft it is. It's amazing.
This yarn sat on my sewing table for many weeks. I kept looking at it and petting it once in a while. It needed to be used up as much as possible without waste. I was sent a full 50g and a partial 50g. I wasn't sure what to do with it so I did what I usually do and I waited for it to "speak" to me.
I had been knitting a hat last week and I got it past the fair isle bit and the seamless joining of two layers when I discovered it was going to be a bit tight. It had to be frogged :( I needed a different project to clear my head over the loss of that work and that is when Inky's yarn spoke to me. Loud and clear. I normally knit doll garments from sock yarn so none of my usual patterns would work for this. I had to make it up as I went. I knit  a guage swatch, did a few calculations and came up with this. I used nearly every inch of the yarn.