More Cardis

I've finished another wonderful cardi.

This one is Bea by (yes, you've guessed it) Kim Hargreaves. The pattern is from the book precious.

There were a number of similar cardi patterns that I thought about knitting but I liked the textured details on the upper body of this one. The tie-cord is also a little bit different.

I made the smallest size, which has turned out to be a good fit. The only modification I made was to make full-length rather than three-quarter sleeves.

The yarn I used is Sirdar Balmoral. I only came across this yarn in March when I went on my birthday yarn shopping trip to Black Sheep in Culcheth. I bought this yarn because I adored the colour (what pink don't I adore?). The yarn itself has quite an expensive feel to it but it's very reasonably priced. It's a combination of wool, silk and alpaca. I used exactly 9 balls to make this cardi. I'll definitely be buying more of this yarn, it's lovely to knit with and gives a smart finish to the garment.

I have now started a new cardi (2010 is obviously the year of the cardi for me!). It's a feminine lacy/ribbed mohair cardi that I'm designing myself. The colour is a lovely pale blue (not pink for a change) and I have some gorgeous flower buttons that will finish it off beautifully. The mohair yarn sheds like anything and I end up with a coating of hairs by the end of the evening but hopefully once it is knitted up it will behave itself.