Knitting Vintage - Cardigan

A while back I picked up a couple of knitting books from the library and scanned some patterns to make. One book was Knitting Vintage by Claire Montgomerie. The book had a few really nice patterns, but also some weird "filler" patterns, like knitted jewellery, typical of newer needlecbooks

One of the patterns that stood out was the Lilac Beaded Cardigan. It looked like a really good way to learn how to start making larger items of clothing. The instructions were fine, but there were places where I felt there could have been more detail, such as when you bind of some of the stitches to form the underarm of the sleeve. A seasoned knitter who has made sweaters or cardigans before would have no trouble with this bit, but the instructions were lacking for a beginning knitter.

The cardigan is meant to be knit with mohair to give that light, fluffy feeling, but couldn't find any cheap mohair in the knitting stores around here. I went the cheap way and found some balls of acrylic that felt really nice and soft, then stuck right in.

Of course I didn't have any of the needles required to match the gauge, so I think I bought an additional 3 pairs of DPNs and 3 pairs of circular needles to get it right. Gah!

I actually started the project back in January, and I think I made about a sleeve and a half wrong because I read the pattern incorrectly. I left it for a while and made the Totoro Mittens as a break from stuffing up the instructions so bad.

Well, once I finally got started the instructions were pretty straightforward, and it was just a matter of knitting, knitting, knitting. Needless to say the Totoro mittens were much more fun to make. This cardigan was more of a slow slog. I think I got through about 12 seasons of South Park plus 3 seasons of Adventure Time while I was making this.

After joining the sleeves. I was horrified that I would get them around
the wrong way, but all went well. I really like the raised decreases.

Blocking the thing! It's blocked before adding the button bands.

Things I learned to do while making this project:

• Forming and attaching sleeves
• Making buttonholes
• Mattress stitch both horizontally and vertically
• The importance of reading instructions

The end result! Cosy and warm. I admit that mohair would have pushed it over the edge but I wasn't willing to splurge on yarn for my first cardigan project.

You can see my Ravelry project here, which includes notes and the kind of yarn I used.