FO and Yarn Along: Tallulah Cardigans

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

Finished at last! I spent my Thanksgiving weekend doing an awful lot of different things, but one of the things I made sure to do was to wash, dry, and sew on the buttons to Lila and Tali's Hanukkah sweaters!

 

Initially I planned on getting their opinion on what kind of buttons they wanted (flowers? kitties? triangles? space ships?) but I figured that was giving them a little too much power and setting myself up for failure. So instead, I made an executive decision and they both got white flower-shaped buttons which are just slightly different. 

I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out, and I'm very excited to see them try them on next weekend for the 7th night of Hanukkah - a first for me since I don't usually get to be part of the candle-lighting part (it's usually dark before I arrive) - and hopefully they'll get to wear them more than once.

 
I've started working on Victoria's Christmas hat. I had to start over because I hated the yarn I picked out. I love Berroco yarns but the Vintage DK was so scratchy and my hands are already so dry to begin with... It was a yucky combination. So I frogged and cast on again with some Kraemer Perfection in Garnet. Karen loaned me some which I'll be replacing with a skein of it I have left in my stash. (We went to dinner and decided to do some knitting and she happened to have it in her stash for me to start - aren't knitting friends fun?) I'm getting through it at a decent clip, though it's hard to say whether or not it will be done in the next week and a half to ship up to Oregon.

Reading:
I finished My Life in France this past weekend. I wanted to finish it over Thanksgiving weekend but I decided to clean my house and decorate for Advent/Christmas instead. But I finished it while babysitting on Sunday night and it was really lovely. I'll try to get a review up soon because I have to return it to the library kind of immediately.

  
That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads. What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow

*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

FO: Wildflower Cardigan

Y'ALL.

IT'S FINISHED.

Exactly 4 months to the day that we started this project, we met up and celebrated the completion of probably the single biggest crafty undertaken I've ever embarked upon. This was a big deal.

But we finished!

 Left to right: Jaimie, Karen, Willow, Therese

We went to a celebratory lunch at the Melting Pot (fondue = delicious!) and took pictures at Jaimie's house (special thanks to her son Nick for actually pushing the camera button on our phones). Confession: I was sewing the buttons onto my sweater moments before running out the door to make our lunch reservation! But here's some close-ups of the "finishing process" including how I finally figured out sewing on my pocket linings and close-ups of my adorable buttons.

The main seams - setting in the sleeves, the sides, and the sleeves (originally knit flat) - were all done in mattress stitch. It took me a bit to figure out how to do it correctly because I was not familiar with how to do mattress stitch in knitting. I've done it in sewing, but there's a particular way to do it when working with hand knit material. Jaimie opted to crochet her seams together which actually looked fine. My concern was because my yarn wasn't as dense as hers that crocheting the seams would add unwanted bulk. They turned out fine either way.

Clockwise from top left: Inside of arm hole, side seam close up, outside of arm hole, large view of side seam.

As for the pockets, I just whip stitched them onto the back of my pocket front. They show a bit in the front but it really is unavoidable. I take consolation in the fact that it's not super noticeable while I'm wearing the sweater.

Top: Backs of my pockets; Bottom: Fronts of my pockets

 

I intended to sew on the buttons with the yarn I used, but I was rather concerned that I wouldn't be able to do as many stitches as I usually do with the added bulk of the yarn. I used light yellow crochet thread instead and it worked fine. I absolutely adore these buttons. I feel like they really make the sweater and I like the delicate design on them for a tiny bit of added visual interest. For those wondering, these buttons are by Organic Elements, natural coconut buttons number 2706. They can be found HERE because for some reason the manufacturer's site is "suspicious and not to be trusted." Okay, Firefox, thanks for keeping the internets safe. I bought mine at JoAnn's.

The sleeves are a little too tight for me to wear this cardigan with anything with sleeves, so it's gotta be sleeveless dresses or tank tops (which is what I wear most of the time anyway). The entire sweater is a bit more snug than I really wanted it to be but overall I'm happy with the fit. It has it's fair share of imperfections and I should really steam it properly but for now I'm very happy with my finished product.

I'll post some more/better photos of me wearing my sweater soon, but I wanted to get this up for Yarn Along Wednesday.

Reading: I finished listening to the audiobook version of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and it was awesome. So, so good and such a satisfying ending! I'll try to get a review up pretty soon.

What have you been knitting and reading lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love, 

Willow

*Author's Note: All images used in this post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with my express permission. See my About Page for details.*