Super Speedy Knitting

Man alive, I have been a knitting demon this past week or so. It suddenly hit me that the two big girls are seriously short of knits. Especially Nelly. I don't know how it has happened, but somehow she seems to have very few cardigans or sweaters that fit. There are two old cardigans from her big sister that are pretty worn and need a new button or two, but otherwise, nothing. 

Anyhow, what a great excuse to knit! I'm going like a bomb, downloading pretty patterns left, right and centre and trawling through my stash like a woman possessed...

This is the first cardigan off the needles. There's another blocking, another on its way, and I've plans for more. I'm having soooooo much fun! Ah, the joy of having three girls! (Gabriel is still in a t-shirt and shorts ... I'm not feeling the need to knit for him just yet).

You might want to know some details: Nelly's sweet red cardy is a fairly new pattern on Ravelry; Sunday Sweater by Ginny Sheller (Of Small Things Yarn-along fame). Isn't it pretty? I'm thrilled with it. It was a really fast knit, all in one piece from the top down. You start at the neck, work increases for the raglan sleeves, divide the sleeves from the body and race to the bottom. The lace pattern is a breeze to remember and the front band is knit as you go. Once you've hit the bottom there's nothing left to do but pick up the neckband and a couple of rows later, hey presto you're done. Perfect for a quick, warm, kid's cardy. I'd really recommend it for a newbie knitter wanting to try their hand at a sweater pattern.

The yarn is a glorious red, but otherwise pretty boring, superwash merino by Cygnet. It felt rather "crunchy" rather than squooshy to knit, but surprised me by washing up beautifully and draping more than I thought it would, (no, I didn't swatch!) so I'm not quite as disparaging of it as I initially was. It's a slightly heavy dk weight and the pattern calls for a worsted, so I knitted the largest 6/7 size (Nell is a pretty reliable 5) anticipating that it would come out slightly big for her. It worked. It's a bit roomy, but will last her for at least one whole winter. I finished it off with some wee wooden flower buttons from my stash, sewing them on with a little of the red yarn. When I sew on buttons with thicker yarn I don't use the yarn as is. I split off a couple of ply's and use that. Same colour, less bulk.

I'm feeling determined to make a great big dent in my stash. I've got some pretty uninspiring yarn in there, some many many years old, acquired before I discovered delicious hand-dyed, super-duper lovely yarns. A lot of it is in small quantities, bought when the big kids were smaller... and I'm planning to use as much as I can these next few weeks. 

Prepare yourselves...