Secret Garden Cropped Cardi

SECRET GARDEN CROPPED CARDI FREE PATTERN
 

Yesterday Gaby and I organized a quick photosession of the little black cardigan I knitted for her this summer. As I mentioned, Gaby spent the summer in a two months' practice at Cambridge university, so I had to improvise the fit, trying the cardigan myself. I should confess that I am as pleased as punch with the general outlook and the fit of the cardigan on her, it's better than I imagined it to be!

I am taking part in a Design Along voting on Ravelry, so I wrote the pattern for the cardigan for size S and I'm offering it free here. I thought I could grade it for other sizes, but that would require testing and I simply don't have the time for such a big endevour. However if size S suits you or if you are experienced enough to grade it to your desired size, I'm happy to provide the pattern.

Pattern: Secret Garden Cropped Cardi
Yarn: Performance Cotton Gem 330 g
Needle: 3.25 mm, 3.5 mm
Time to knit: two weeks

My husband proposed the name Secret Garden, as the columns of ssk and yo looked to him like the steel bars of a fence, through which you could see the cables (trees) of a garden.

Good Bye, Vogue Cardi

Four years ago I knitted the Fitted Cropped Cardi from Vogue Spring 2014 in Performance Cotton Gem. I loved the process and I liked the way it turned out, but I never wore it, not once in the course of a year or so. As Cotton Gem is fairly expensive and with low yardage, this tiny thing had eaten through quite a lot of yarn, which was unused, so I frogged it and reknit the beige yarn in my Ho-okipa Cardigan.

When I considered knitting the Vogue cardi for the second time, using only black Cotton Gem, I had presumed that the problem with my first attempt was the contrast color combo, which was hard to match with anything other than solid black or solid white. And I had forgotten the issue with the transparency of the big holes, which made the cardi look more like a fishing net than a piece of clothing.

The problem didn't seem obvious to me, when matching the work in progress with various items it could be worn with,but it became glaring after I blocked the back and two fronts and pinned them to try the body on. As I had still to knit the two sleeves and the bands, I decided that I'd rather frog it and start anew than knit the remaining 2/3 and then frog it in a year. Now I'm testing stitch patterns for the new design. Am I a too fussy knitter, I wonder?!

Second Windsor Cardi

This is the second Windsor cardigan which I finished last month. It took knitting it twice, but so worth it - practical, comfortable and beautiful color. But I've blogged so much about this cardigan, that no more words, just a few quick photos in the area outside our building:

Pattern: Windsor Cardi by Amy Christoffers
Yarn: Zettl Nadine 270 g
Needle: 3.5 mm
Time to knit: 19 days

Vogue Cardi

I finished my Vogue cardi a week ago and finally got to blogging about it. I've styled it with black and beige as in the magazine, but it goes well with my short summer dresses too. I made a few minor modifications, some of which turned for the better - the sleeve cap, and some for the worse - the lengthening changed the silhouette and was probably a mistake.

Pattern: Fitted Cropped Cardi by Theresa Schabes, Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2014
Yarn:  Performance Cotton Gem, 300 g light beige and 50 g black
Needle: 3 mm rib, 3.5 mm body
Time to knit: 12 days

I kept extensive notes on my process in my Ravelry page, so I feel have little to add here :)
I'm ashamed to confess that I didn't bother to block the black button band - and I should (blushing). It pulls the sides, especially the left one, when the cardi is worn unbuttoned. I'll have to fix that soon. All in all a wearable little cardi, but not very versatile and I doubt it will become a staple in my summer wardrobe.

Turquoise Anais

And here it is - my turquoise Anais. No, I'm not color blinded :), it is a bit turquoise, but the camera seems incapable to catch the green tones :( The yarn is made of four blue cotton threads and two dark green rayon threads, that combine in a dark turquoise color. But, never mind the camera, it's real life impressions that matter and I am very pleased with my new summer cardi/sweater:

Pattern: Anais by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Nako Breeze 70% cotton 30% rayon
Needle: 2.5 mm rib, 3 mm body
Time to knit: 8 days

Interested in knitted FOs - lots of these at Creative Friday and FO Friday