Monday 8 February 2016

My Cardigan of Many Colours

I've been so excited about sharing my finished cardigan with you.  It has now been soaked and blocked and is ready to wear.

And here it is....



I love it.  The fit is just right and the colours work well together.

I actually used 26 different colours, mostly Rowan Fine Tweed with a couple of bits of Rowan Scottish Tweed thrown in.  I followed a Fair Isle chart from a Debbie Bliss sweater pattern, but used my own measurements to create the cardigan.

It has been knitted using bits and pieces leftover from old projects - and some of it was literally just bits.  Here was my starting point.


And here's the stash now.


I reckon I have used about 360g of yarn, so a significant reduction in the stash.

And here are all the ends that had to be sewn in!  Thankfully I was very disciplined and did this as I went along.  I couldn't face leaving it to the end.


Knitting up the cardigan, I remembered how much I love the Rowan Fine Tweed.  Although my stash of this particular yarn is now considerably depleted, I know I will be buying more in the future.  Once it's been soaked it is lovely and soft and the tweedy colours are gorgeous.

You can see full details of all the colours used on my Ravelry page, here.

Having de-stashed this yarn, I decided that I would be brave and weigh my entire stash this week, just to see the extent of the damage.  I should really have done this last week because Grace came to stay at the weekend and brought me 11 balls of Stylecraft Special DK that she'd ordered on my behalf.  If she had kept it at her flat I could have got away without including this in the weigh in!  Never mind, it'll all get used eventually - but eventually is probably a very long way away!

22 comments:

  1. Crazy how the colors all work good together. Looks amazing!!

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    1. Thank you Iesadora, I'm amazed at how well it has worked out.

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  2. I really love your cardigan!!! It's colours are so nice together; that makes it look as if didn't use so much different ones. It looks good on you too, I bet you'll wear it often!

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    1. Thank you Nelleke, the colours really blend well together. I haven't stopped wearing it yet, I love it so much.

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  3. It's beautiful Janet and it fits you perfectly a definite work of art I would say, what a lot of ends! but it's good you tackled them as you went along. Are you going to be brave enough to tell us your stash total? :) xx

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    1. Thank you Linda.
      I'm following your lead and I'm going to spend tomorrow weighing and sorting the stash. Depending on how shocking it is, I'll share the stash total.

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  4. It looks fabulous and is fabulous on you!!! A great busting of your stash of this yarn! Good luck with the rest of it. xx

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  5. Your cardigan looks so great, and you certainly have sorted that pile of wool down to size.

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  6. It truly is a work of art, I am so impressed. I haven't got any Rowan Fine Tweed - yet!! x

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    1. Thank you Jo. I can certainly recommend the Rowan Fine Tweed but I shouldn't really be putting temptation in anyone's way!

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  7. How satisfying and what a great result.

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  8. I love it!! I have actually picked up the knitting needles again as I am having trouble finding a new cardigan for winter, perhaps that is because we are in the middle of summer LOL

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    1. Thank you Vicky. Never too early to start knitting for Winter!

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  9. This fits you perfectly! The colours work so well together too. What an amazing use of leftovers, I'm very impressed! Maria x

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  10. Your cardigan is really lovely. All those colours! You'll have no problem matching clothes to wear with it. The fair isle looks like the Debbie Bliss cardigan I knitted a few years back. Was it in one of her magazines?

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    1. Thank you Claire. Yes it was from the Autumn/ Winter 2010 Debbie Bliss magazine. The original pattern was for a v necked sweater.

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  11. Janet, this is a work of art, a beautiful piece. You are amazing.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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    1. Thank you Meredith. I enjoyed playing with all the colours.

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