Quick to Knit Cardigan

At the beginning of the year I joined in with the All Things Vintage group on Ralvery for a Knit Along (KAL). We had a choice of several categories and within that several items as not everyone wanted to knit the same sweater or cardigan.

The choices for the clothing category was either a striped sweater from 1955 or a cardigan from the early 1950s. I went for the cardigan partly because I had yarn in my stash and partly because I thought that it would be easier to up-size it from a 38" bust to a 42". The tension came up slightly larger than recommended so I figured that it would work. It was meant to be 6 stitches to 1" and I got 5.

I used Sirdar Bonus Aran in a lovely lavender colour - well I think that it was bonus aran as I bought it unbanded in two 400g balls for the grand total of £4.99. Whatever it was, it worked really well producing a nice fabric that was not rigid and is just perfect for that awkward time between winter and spring.

It knits up very quickly and I really enjoyed making it despite stalling on the top of the second sleeve for near on a month. And this was the first project that I have actually had to sew up in a long time. I dreaded it but again it didn't take long and looks grand.

I chose some lovely red buttons which contrasts nicely with the purple and makes it look a bit more vintage (I think) and it's great to wear.

It might look a bit short but the style of sweaters in the early 1950s is for garments that showed off the waist so this fits perfectly into that genre of garments. I did notice that the upper art of the sleeves came out a little large but I think that was entirely from knitting it in aran weight wool rather than double knit and I'm not going to be frogging them so it is now a design feature.

It's now inspired me to knit more vintage patterns and I know that I am larger than many of them are designed for but this has given me an insight into what to watch out for net time round and I also know that I have experience of many vintage knitters should I get into a pickle.

On the Road Again

Well not exactly on the road, more on Kingsholm Road in Gloucester. Yep, I'm back to the delights of sunny Gloucester, probably for the next few weeks. It's a bit annoying as I am trying to get my house sorted and the garden will have to be dug over soon and I have a bunch of knitting things and spinning things and sewing things to be getting on with. Doesn't work realise that I actually HAVE a LIFE!!!

Anyway I have been remarkably lax with updating on my knitting recently so here is the tally at the moment:
I am in the final stages of getting a pinwheel cardigan finished, it just needs an arm and a half sorting out and then it's done.
I have most of a knitted dinosaur finished but it needs 3 more legs and then sewing and stuffing
There is my attempt to knt a vintage 1940s bra that is coming along very nicely but I have no real idea if it will fit me. So far I have almost a whole cup done.
Then there is the 1940s snood that I finished but kept fogetting to get elastic so that I could finish it properly and now it is probably somewhere in the depths of my bedroom
And finally (I had to get there at some point) I have just started another vintage garment - this time it's a sleeveless pullover that I am attempting to knit in the round but it's not co-operating and I was too tired to fight it. I only started that today so so far all I have is the ribbing and a few rows done but I thikn that i can work out the pattern for the round. The yarn is a fugly brown tweedy thing that has been cluttering up my stash for a while now and this project seems to scream utility wear and what better colour than brown for utility wear?

Oh and forgot about the mountain of hibernating WIPs that I am doing my best to ignore. I keep reasoning that they are either too big, or too close to finishing to bring with me to Gloucester. Yea, I know.