A Cardigan for the Autumn

It's finished!  The buttons are on, and the camera is still being thrown into confusion by the colour.  To photograph it I put it on an old curtain on the floor near a window, and when editing the colour I could not get the dark red right without the green of the background turning out too bright.  The red varies a lot depending on the light, looking really drab in electric light and interesting and cheerful in sunshine, so perhaps I should not complain too much about the camera throwing a temper.

 

Here are the yarns I used - the Sirdar Harrap Tweed (a wool and synthetic mix) for the ribbing and background colour, and the lovely varied pure wool yarn, hand dyed by Charmaine at YarnTings, for the pattern rows.  I used up two skeins of of the varied yarn with only a tiny amount left over.  Thinking I was going to run out, I ordered an extra skein, which came in handy for the photo and will be set aside for another project

The stitch is an easy eight row sequence:-

Row 1 - background, knit

Row 2 - background, purl

Row 3 - contrast, k2, p2

Row 4 - contrast , k2, p2

Row 5 - background, knit

Row 6 - background, purl

Row 7 - contrast, p2, k2

Row 8 - contrast, p2, k2

It gives a basket weave effect with a lovely warm texture, and the reverse stocking stitch squares showing on the right side give a mottled effect to the varied colours of the contrast yarn.

Another great advantage to this stitch is that it is easy to look at a finished item and count the rows and the stitches, so you can make another and adjust the number of rows or stitches if needed.

Here is a toddler sized cardie (patiently waiting for its buttons) laid over mine, which presented another photo editing nightmare.  To get the blues right I had to reconcile myself to inaccurate red and screaming green.  It is made in the same stitch, but the body proportions are quite different, with the sleeves being the same length as the body.  It is so long since I knitted an adult sized garment that I had forgotten how much longer the sleeves needed to be.

Finally, the buttons.  I love them!  Just the right shade of dark red, with a gold circle for emphasis.  I'm pleased that the gold colour isn't on the surface where it could end up wearing off, but safely embedded under a layer of transparent plastic.

Now the cardigan is put away, and much as I want to wear it, I hope I don't need it until late September at least!