Onions.

It’s been a while.

I haven’t found my knitting mojo yet but I am steadily working on some projects that have been very gratifying. With the weather finally changing, warming up and long walks through my favourite parks, I’m not sure my mojo will return for a while. There is a sense of peace about that, though. Slowly the yard is being cleaned up and things are coming together in the house. Luckily, no spring cleaning this year since we moved and cleaned out in January. Whew!

Amazingly, I have a finished project to share with you. Before we moved, I was working on this like mad. For a while, I had nothing else to work on since all yarn and notions were packed but I really burned out on it when I started the second sleeve. I felt like there was no end in sight.

I pulled it out on Sunday evening and decided: Win or lose, we were watching the Canucks game (thank goodness we won) and that would give me 3 hours of solid knitting/weaving in ends time. I was not going to quit till it was done! As the third period came to an end, I was washing and laying it out to dry. Awesome, huh?

Amy Christoffers’ Larch Cardigan.

In some ways I modified this a lot and in other ways, I did nothing. Having trialed some different construction methods in other sweaters (namely, Audrey in Unst), I decided to do short-row sleeves from the cap down. This worked really well but I had major decreasing to do through the arms. The result is perfectly fitting sleeves but I’m not sure it was the best technique to use – I would knit set-in sleeves next time.

The detail in this cardigan is what makes it special. The miles of St st for the body with a small amount of shaping for the A-line cardigan is a little tedious but I kept thinking “This is for the greater good of this cardi – it’s just so cute!”

The collar alone makes this sweater-jacket special.

The buttons and crocheted toggles create a classic look (that I absolutely love).

And while tedious, my absolute favourite thing is the picked up hem and twisted rob combo. Absolutely perfect – kudos Amy, well done.

I bought this dress from H&M in Vegas back in April for $20US and loved it. It has a paisley pattern that is difficult to see from the sun’s exposure but the colours in the cardigan are a perfect match so my yarn choice was reinforced again (I had bought the yarn to go with the above t-shirt and scarf). I chose (from Dressew for $1.99) Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds DK Wool in Onion. The yarn I bought has been discontinued but I saw that they are bringing this yarn back in a different form, same great organic yarn.

Thank you for sticking with my through my hiatus – have a lovely Spring and happy knitting!

ps. Yes, that’s Charlie in the first photos – he is fully grown now at 17 months. And so much fun :)