Roses and Bluebells

Like many people, I do not enjoy having my photograph taken, not one bit. But so that you could see what this cardigan looks like on - and so that I am not completely absent from our family's photographic history - I asked John to take some photos of me at the weekend. We were in the most picturesque place, and the bluebells were at there absolute bluest (and is it me or are they especially good this year?) so it seemed as good an opportunity as any.

This is my Rose Cardigan which was very kindly sent to me in a kit by the excellent Wool and the Gang. I'm a big fan of their products (crochet patterns that you actually want to wear! In lovely colours!) so it was no hardship working away on this project. The kit contains everything you need; pattern, yarn, hook, darning needle - even a label, which is a nice touch. It's the second item of clothing I've crocheted myself (after my poncho) and a very easy project indeed. No increases or decreases, just a lot of rows of treble stitch and a lot of beautiful soft cotton. 

It's quite heavy and has a very nice drape and movement to it. It is long, possibly because my tension was quite loose. Luckily, as I'm almost 6 foot tall, this isn't an issue, but smaller folk may find they need to decrease the initial starter chain which dictates the length of the garment, or go down a hook size.

I went ever so slightly off-pattern at the end, and decided to shorten the length of the sleeves by turning them up a couple of rows and tacking them in place with matching cotton thread.

Sewing it up was straightforward, you just whip-stitch up each side and under each arm, and then I blocked it.

Also - foam blocking mats! I have never used these before and they are a revelation! I used to block everything on a couple of towels laid over a carpet but since we hardly have any carpeted floors now, I decided to buy some those interlocking mats. I think that technically the ones I bought are play mats for children, but they were a lot cheaper than those marketed as "crafting mats" and seem to do the same job. I bought two packs of these and they worked a treat.

Last of all, let me rave a little about the colour. I love this soft shade of pink. I think it might be called blush, although the yarn is called "Nude Pink". It goes so well with black, navy and grey (basically my wardrobe colours) and is very flattering. I would love to make a cotton bed throw version of this cardigan, all soothing cotton and calm pattern, something for the summer. Trouble is I'd need about 50 balls of the yarn so that would be quite an expensive throw.

Anyway, there we have it, one Rose Cardigan. I've got the bug now and am thinking about making my first crocheted sweater. There's no stopping me!