limedragon :)

At long last!

Can you believe it? I finally finished the Cropped Cardigan; all the seams have been sewn, ends woven in, and buttons attached.

Yippee!!

Technically, this project took over a year to finish, but a lot of that time was spent in hibernation. If I had worked on this continuously, I estimate the actual time would be about 4-5 weeks.

I’m very happy to be finished with it, and overall, I’m pleased with the end result. I can see some places where my technique improved over time. For instance, the twisted cast-on I used for the ribbed hem is noticeably looser in the back, and it was the first piece I worked.

I had bought two bags of Bongo cotton for this sweater from Herrschners. One of the bags turned out to be faulty; each skein had one, two, or three KNOTS. Ugh! After a bit of pouting and grumping at these naughty skeins, I turned this negative into a positive. I used the opportunity to practice weaving in the yarn as I knit. It has pretty much become habit now.

I love the textured columns, but the bumpy yarn does contrast a bit too much with it. Overall, it’s fine, but if I ever knit this pattern again and with cotton, I would definitely seek out a smooth yarn. (And if you’ve knit the Charade socks, the textured columns are the same stitch pattern: herringbone rib aka vertical weave.)

I found these cute flower-shaped buttons at Wal-Mart, and love how they look. Plain round buttons would have been boring, and colored ones didn’t seem to work.

What a journey it has been; this cardigan was my team member for Amazing Lace last summer (fyi, in that post, some pictures don’t work), then waited patiently for me to finish the sleeves and final assembly. Tomorrow: her final destination!