FO - Tea Leaves Cardigan

It's finished!! 

Pattern: Madeline Tosh, Tea Leaves 

Yarn: Rowan, Rowanspun dk

The Rowanspun DK was perfect for this project - it's warm and cozy, but not too thick, making it the right choice for a nice lightweight summer cardigan. With that in mind (and because I wanted to finally finish it!) I decided to omit the long sleeves and go with short ones instead. I made the garter stitch hem a little thinner than the pattern suggests because I thought that with the short sleeves it might be too overpowering. Because I was using very large buttons I also made the button holes slightly larger. Otherwise this is knitted as per pattern. 

I'm so in love with this cardigan. Have already been wearing it this evening, despite the fact that it's not even blocked. I can see myself making another one, this time with long sleeves.

You can take the girl away from the crafting but you can't take the crafting away from the girl...

... or something like that.

I've been quiet these past few years. A busy family life with three little boys, a husband, two cats and two chickens, and an equally busy working life will do that to you.

That said, I've not been completely idle on the crafts front. Granted, it's taken me a while to finish even small projects, but the littlest monkey of the clan is 2 now (Already! How did that happen?!) and is showing signs of becoming ever so slightly more sensible and less prone to totally random and erratic behaviour, and boy #2 has joined boy #1 at school now, and it feels like there is a little more room to ... breathe, craft-wise. I've been going to a lovely spinning group, the Beretun Spinners in Barton. The group meets once a month on a Saturday for a whole day of spinning and crafting goodness and although I'm not able to go every month it's been so inspiring to see such wonderful crafters and spinners. Plus of course the sheer luxury of having a few hours off and just to myself once in a while.

Plus, I've been knitting. For far too long now I've had this project on my needles:

It's the Tea Leaves Cardigan (there is a link from Ravelry but I can't be bothered to look it up!!) and I'm knitting it in Rowan's Rowanspun DK in burnt orange. This is a discontinued yarn (sadly, as it's fabulous), but I have a good stash of it. It knits up beautifully, but with this and that, the project has still been languishing in the knitting basket for absolutely ages. I've recently picked it up again and apart from the finishing rows and button holes along the front edge and the adding of a couple of nice buttons it's complete! I can't wait to wear it!

All encouraged by the prospect of finally finishing a WIP I've also picked up an ancient sock project again. I can't even remember what this was supposed to be, because i never got beyond the cuff of sock #1, but I've decided that the pattern is so cheerful that I'll just turn this into a really simple pair of stockinette socks.

Well, here's to more crafting once again. I can't wait! :)