Porridge and honey, better than money.
Above is a quote from one of my favourite fantasy novels, The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. In terms of story it’s the opposite of soft, fluffy yarn: it’s grim, harsh and bloody. In fact, the quote is a song from the childhood of a specifically notorious torturer. And yet, the colours of porridge and honey make such a nice combination that I’ve decided to make a comfy cardigan of it. It’s funny how something like a gritty fantasy novel can inspire something as cutesy as a handknitted cardigan, but there you have it!
I started this cardigan in September, but due to my commitment to making the sweater for my dad and joining in the Stephen West Mystery KAL the project was on a hold for a bit. When I did finish it I was snowed under exams and papers so I’m very excited that I’m now able to let it make its first appearence on the blog!
Even though I use Drops yarns pretty often, it was a first time I used the Drops Karisma quality. Drops is currently in my top five go-to yarn brands (if you’re curious: the others are Istex, Holst, Malabrigo and Jamieson&Smith’s) and here in mainland Europe there is pretty much no brand to match it price/quality wise. Especially when I had just gotten into knitting I used Drops a lot. It think it the ideal brand for beginners to dabble into knitting with natural fibres without paying the world. Anyway, the karisma quality is no exception. I’m curious to see whether it will hold up just as good as their qualities with alpaca.
I’m a undecided about the pattern. Melissa created a beautiful design and the end result is one of my favourite makes as of yet. On the other hand I felt that some parts in the pattern were unnecessarily complicated the way they were written down, often confusing. Especially the part for the yoke and the joining of the sleeves were done extremely confusing. You’re working with four different charts (one for the back, the left front, the right front and the sleeves) while the cardigan itself is worked in the round (so the pattern includes steeking). So while working on one row, you have 4 pages in front of you. I really do wonder if this couldn’t be done in a more practical way. I didn’t like how most of the decreases were done, they were sometimes really obvious, especially when you had to knit or purl 3 stitches together. So I changed the decreases and I did the yoke construction in a different way. However the end result is more than worth some frustration. All in all this design is not for the faint harted and I would not recommend it to beginners, but I feel that more expirienced sweater and colourwork knitters certainly will be able to make it work.
Ultimately though, I am really happy with the end result of the cardigan. It wears very easily, has colourwork (♥) and pockets(♥♥)! and it’s nice to add a bright cardigan to my collection. Did you ever had a lot of problems with a pattern, but ended up loving the end result anyway? (those are the best cases of unclear patterns!)
Oooeeh! Mooi Nel!
Super mooi vest! Knap stukje handwerk! Warme natuurlijke uitstraling op naar de Faröer eilanden!
Groet Margot
Harstikke bedankt jullie beide!Ben er zelf heel blij mee!
@Margot haha Ik zie dat jij deze week ook naar Floortje hebt zitten kijken 😉 Die mevrouw had inderdaad een erg mooie trui aan, dat was mij ook meteen opgevallen! 😉
Lovely! Those colors are lovely and the cardigan is very flattering.
I also use Drops as a go to yarn. Might have something to do that it is pretty easy to get hold of and they have sales really regularly.
How many (self knit) sweaters do you have at the moment? You seem so productive! *totally in awe*
I was able to finish a huge shawl (Smell as Sweet-Kitman) in under a month, but I feel like knitting a sweater is much more work. And as I have not standard measurements I always have to do math and it seems much more difficult then just following the pattern. Is it experience that you were able to make those adjustments to this cardigan?
Oh! I forgot! Maybe this question might be to personal, but are you going to participate at the flash your stash 2014? I'm totally not curious, nope… really not… *whistles innocently*
Hier kan je zien wie de vakvrouw is met dat moeilijke patronensysteem.
Een heel mooi vest heb je daar in elkaar gestoken, vakwerk.
Groeten aan iedereen.
Daaag.
Paul
Heej Nelson, een heel mooi vest om te zien. Een vakvrouw, ja. <3 Groetjes Kim
Thank you Sandra! I'm super happy with how the cardigan turned out!
I now have about 20 (maybe more?) self knit sweater in my collection which I wear regularly. So that excludes the sweaters I knitted for others…but honestly…I don't do that so often 😉
I'm not planning to leave it a that number…haha 😉
Ahw thanks! I think a mix of experience and just trying things out. Which results in surprisingly good outcomes, but sometimes also massive fails (and thus frogging) but that's all right! I think it's also a matter of feeling confident in what you do, I feel more confident with sweater knitting whereas you feel more confident with knitting huge shawls. *also in awe*
I don't think I've heard about the flash your stash event before…though I think I can make a pretty accurate guess what it is 😉 Is there a website or Ravelry group or something? Are there certain rules?
xx
Bedankt Paul en Kim! Haha cool dat ik me inmiddels vakvrouw mag noemen in het breiveld 😉
I am not sure if it is a ravelry group, but here is the link to the topic. http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/yarn/2802250/1-25
I believe the rules are to show all your stash. Mostly on a bed so people can see how big or how little it is.
…
Maybe with a cat or a baby in between. I don't know…It seems common. It's silly, I know…(But still very awesome at the same time.)
There is also a topic where you can show how you stash your stash. But that might be a little bit too obsessive with stash… *facepalm*
20 sweaters? Wow! When I hear that I only can think of how you wash them all! Or protect them from moths! Or have space enough in your closet to fit them all! Amazing!
All wool?
Haha wow…those are some stashes!
I might go and photograph my stash at some point when I have the time and the boyfriend is away! (He. Cannot. Know.)
A cat shouldn't be a problem, but a baby might be more problematic haha… though probably less harmful to the yarn than a cat. Have you seen what some cats can do to ones yarn? *shudders*
Haha yes…washing can be challenging during the colder months. Especially since my boyfriend has quite the collection of woolen sweaters as well. (thought most of them aren't hand knitted and therefore his collection is less superior than mine…Muhaha!)
Yes most of them are, I have some which are from alpaca…I have made two cotton sweaters in my knit life but I never wear them and therefore they do not exist!
Hi, my name is Daria and I'd like to say that your cardigan looks so tidy and very well-done! I've Googled it while searching information about Drops karisma. May I ask you what do you think about this yarn? See that you mention its quality, but I have also met some bad reviews telling about tendency to pill and to stretch. You project looks well, do you have any of these problems while working on it?
The thing is that I plan to start large cabled cardi from Karisma (that's why I ask). I Will be happy to get your opinion about the yarn.
Hi Daria,
So far I haven't noticed any pilling. I did hear from other that Drops Nepal pills a lot, but that's mostly with the dyed skeins, and less so with the undyed ones.
The drops yarn that I do have a lot of experience with, alpaca, does pill, but not extraordinary much.
Hope that helps!