Ruffled featherweight Cardigan for moi!

I was inspired to make this cardigan thanks to a very dear friend and co-worker, Princess Kevin's Mama. She was making a featherweight cardigan in the Malabrigo Lace weight yarn in a gorgeous red color. I think this yarn deserves its own blog post - but suffice it to say - this wool feels like butter. It just melts in your hand - it is so soft! I had to get my hands on this yarn and make something for myself as well. So, I decided to make the same featherweight cardigan and add my own twist to it.

Unfortunately before I could add my own twist to this cardigan, I would have to figure out how to get the basics right. The first time I made the cardigan - I finished it within a week! I put it on and asked Muh Man for his opinion. He honestly responded that it looked too small. However, I felt I needed more feedback since I thought it looked fine. When I asked the opinion of my more experienced knitting friends at work, they unfortunately said the same thing. I had made a mistake in the beginning of the cardigan itself, and in order to make it bigger, I would have to unravel the entire thing and start all over again....

This was the first cardigan I was making for myself. I wasnt as heartbroken at the idea of having to unravel most of my sweater to remake it. After all, that meant I could spend more time knitting with this glorious yarn. However, as glorious as this yarn is to touch, that's how painful it was to unravel. It was so sticky and kept getting knotted up in itself. Finally, whatever I managed to undo - looked like a big fuzzy mess. So, I decided to start from scratch, all over again, with my leftover, untouched, fresh new Malabrigo yarn.

Oh yes! That was the best part about this yarn. Being lace weight you get about 600 yards from each skein and I ended up using a little over one and a half skeins for this cardigan. Each skein cost about $9 - so basically this sweater cost me $18! Which is a great deal since most fantastic yarns are quite expensive and it can easily cost anywhere between $50 to $100 to just make a sweater. In a size small! So this yarn is quite special in that respect - however, the trade off is  that it pills very fast... *sigh*. I guess nothing in this world is truly perfect...

Anyways, Im glad that I started fresh from scratch. After all, I believe you arent a real knitter if you havent frogged a project and reworked some part of it. It just goes to show that you have put in thought, time and effort into the piece and arent afraid to do whatever it takes in order to make it just how you like it.... OR it means that you are still a rookie and need more experience before you get it right in the very first time! Either ways, that's the beauty of a hand-knitted item - you get to control many aspects of the piece - from choosing the yarn to customizing the fit and adding your own modifications to it - subtle or bold to make it truly your very own.
























So, this sweater was knit seemlessly in top-down raglan style. The edges and collar were knit in 2x2 rib. I found binding off with this yarn quite challenging since no technique seemed stretchy and lose enough. It was making the entire cardigan fit snug by biting into my skin and ruining the fall of the entire piece. Fortunately, I found Jeny's super stretchy bind off and ended up using it for binding off the arms, the bottom of the sweater and the collar. It gave a lovely, ruffly edge which was also quite a pleasant surprise. All-in-all I love the way this cardigan looks and feels. It is super soft and surprisingly warm! I cant wait to get my paws on some more Malabrigo for my next knitting endeavor...

Socky Monkey for Miss Strawberry Shortcake

Im at the point where I love making different things - sweaters, hats, gloves, tops, scarves. Every new project presents a new challenge. For Christmas, I wanted to make something for Muh Man's neice - Miss Strawberry Shortcake. I could have made her another cute hat since she adores hats - but I figured a toy would be really fun. Plus, Olive Oyl, a co-worker and very good friend recently made a lovely sock monkey that she pranced around at work in the most adorable way. Hence the inspiration. Here are some fun pictures -

 Some more pictures of the in progress socky monkey:

For more technical details visit my ravelry page

What is Miss Strawberry Shortcake's reaction to her socky monkey you ask? Check it out on this video!