Little Coffee Bean Cardigan

FO Friday!
Another project that has been sitting unfinished for MONTHS, and only needed 20 minutes to complete! I just had to sew in the ends and the buttons.

I made the Little Coffee Bean Cardigan (link to Ravelry free pattern) for a friend's baby as a first birthday present. Her birthday was in April. Then we moved. Then I procrastinated. Now it is spring and warming up each day, in fact today it is 31C.

I am really pleased with it, but not so pleased that she will probably never wear it, since next winter she'll be too big! This is a really cute pattern for babies, easy and fast to knit, and the pattern is well-written and clear.



Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 10ply in colour and colour.
Wooden buttons from Lincraft





For other great projects, check out Tami's FO Friday!

Wow, 2012's first completed project!

Today has been lovely. A sleep-in, followed by sorting through my yarn stash, knitting while listening to Cast-on, drinking tea I got for Christmas, and eating leftover Christmas cake. This is how I used to spend my weekends when we lived in England, but since being in Oz I just haven't done it. I'm going to try and make knitting a priority in my life in 2012, I get so much out of it. Including wearable knits!

I bought Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn in December 2004 to make Knitty's Tempting and started knitting it in early 2005. By 2006 it was a UFO, and I notice that in August 2008 I had decided I was never going to complete it, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't wear it. I queued Shalom (link to pattern PDF) by Meghan from Involving the Senses in Ravelry in October 2008, and looks like I started it in April 2009. I have never blogged or made any other record about this project. I think I started it one weekend, worked on it intensively for a week or so, then stopped.


Today, I went through my stash (one of my 2012 goals). I saw Shalom, and how little I needed to do. I finished it in 2 hours. I think the reason I stopped knitting was that I wasn't sure if there was enough yarn to make it. There definitely wasn't enough to make it full length, but I just knitted until I used all the yarn and it's a nice cropped length. It's not the most flattering garment, as it does stop right at my waist, but I think it will be great with skinny jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt.



The Shalom cardigan was on my Year of Projects list - so I can cross it off! I also did some knitting on a pair of socks, so I am going well so far.

Bobble Blue - FINISHED!

Bobble Blue has been a long time coming. I first fell in love with the pattern when I lived in England in 2006. I had a subscription to Interweave Knits given to me that year, and the picture of the model sitting outside the cafe in her bright blue Bobble Blue tempted me.

On a mini-break over that summer to Pembrokeshire in Wales, I visited an Angora goat farm, Blueberry Angora, which sold yarn direct to the public, and I bought enough for a sweater in a gorgeous maroon colour (called Russet Red). It was so fun to visit the farm, I got to meet the little goats that contributed to my yarn! The yarn was a little scratchy, but fine to knit with and I would mostly wear this knit over a turtle neck or long sleeved top.

I started knitting, and loved doing the cables and bobbles, so much fun to see them pop! Then we traveled for four months and moved to Australia. Bobble Blue was put in the bottom of a box. Finally I had inspiration to finish the last few bits – picking up stitches for the collar, and seaming it together, and blocking. I even bought some buttons, which was the last thing to do. But I wasn’t sure about the buttons, so I didn’t sew them on.

Another move, across town this time, instead of across countries, and I was inspired to finally finish it off. I bought different buttons, and sewed them on. It was done!

It is now a bit too big for me, I’ve lost weight since I first started it, but I I’m still really pleased. It’s not the most flattering garment, but it is so warm and the perfect thing to wear in a Sydney Winter, when it’s not quite cold enough for a coat.

I’ve got one more sweater with a similar story (started in England, complete except for inserting a zipper). Poor Rosedale, it was actually finished, except I sewed the wrong type of zipper into it, so once I unzipped it I couldn’t zip it up again. I have finally bought a new zipper, so that is my goal for next week!

Details

Started: October 2006
Yarn: 6 skeins of Russet Red Aran, 80% Angora, 20% wool, bought August 2006
Pattern:  Bobble Blue, Interweave Knits
Completed knitting : February 2009
Sewed on buttons: May 2011







To check out other finished things, check out Tami Ami's blog!