Knitting for me: A Casco Bay Cardi

Pattern: Casco Bay Cardi by Carrie Bostick Hoge (collection Sparrow Sans, Quince and Co.)

Yarn: Cascade Ultra Pima in Ecru colorway 3718 (3 skeins, 660 yards. I have a tiny bit left)

Needles: US 8

Notions: 7 wooden buttons

Size: 35

Important: As the pattern indicates, swatching is vital!

I'm planning to knit down my stash for the next couple months. Now, I don't have an enormous stash but it is sizeable enough and does take up a storage box of its own. Almost all of my stash was given to me by my mother around the time of my wedding several years ago. It's high time that I start to use it. All the yarns are absolutely lovely but I suppose the reason I have waited so long to knit them up is that I'm a person that will generally pick out a project, buy the yarn specifically for the project, and make it almost right away.  I need to reverse my usual process and pick projects based on the yarn and quantity, which I can tell you, has taken quite a bit of searching on Ravelry.

So, without further ado, my first stash knitdown project: A Casco Bay Cardi in Cascade Ultra Pima.

I love garter stitch and I realized that this cardi would be just the thing to go with my Make a Garment a Month May challenge dress, Simplicity 2215. You can see the dedicated blog post here. Looking through my stash, this yarn seemed like the best bet...because that's kind of what it felt like... I wasn't sure I would have enough yarn and I was going to be using a cotton dk instead of a fingering linen held double. But I swatched and blocked and I seemed to obtain a similar gauge using a US 8, although the cotton seemed to have a tendency to shrink up more than the linen.

Even though this project was a breeze to knit, it was outside of my comfort zone because of the loose gauge knitting, which is something I had never done before. I had to keep reminding myself of my gauge swatch to reassure myself that the garment would be fine. 

I loved the integrated buttonholes which streamlined the whole process. I added some extra rows and a buttonhole. I'm glad I added a bit extra to the body length because the cotton does seem to want to shrink up, although we'll see how it does after wearing and whether it starts to pull down. 

The sleeves were the only part that I didn't enjoy as much but that's also because sleeves are not my favorite part of a garment to knit. I knit them on two circulars as I don't have double pointeds. It gave for a neat result since the magic loop method was looking too messy with the loose gauge. I didn't add extra rows to the sleeves because I was not going to have enough yarn.

There are so many things I love about this cardi such as the simple construction and neckline, paired with the fluid beauty of garter stitch. The incorporated buttonholes were so satisfying because once I was done with the body, I was done! I'm very pleased with the cardi and the fit, which is loose and comfortable without being too big. I'd love to knit practically all of the patterns from the Sparrow Sans collection, but I don't think I have the right yarns in my stash, so the other patterns will have to wait till later. And finally, I'm so happy about how this goes with my Make a Garment a month dress and it's exactly what I had envisioned. I also love that the buttons somewhat bring back the idea of polka dots and the color of the dress. Success! (Even though I look very serious in this photo, inside I'm jumping for joy!)

Knitting for me: a smocked cardi

 

Pattern: "Pretty (me)" by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne from the collection Emmitouflages (used the pattern in French)
Yarn: Malabrigo Arroyo in 131 Sand Bank, 3 skeins
Needle: US 5 for ribbing
             US 6 for body
Size: xs
Notions: 10 mother-of-pearl buttons (15 mm)

This cardi was a labor of love but I am quite pleased with the finished product! I say it was a labor of love because there were some errors on my part (nothing to do with the pattern) that ended up with me undoing a half finished project. Gahhh!!! Silly, girl! How did you end up using a US 4 instead of  a US 6? I have a number of hypotheses as to how this disas...mistake happened but when the cardi started to look like it would just about fit a 5 year old I knew something was awry! Anyhow, being the person that I am, I ripped it back and started again the same day.

 

All that said and done, phew, I really did enjoy knitting this cardi. It was straight forward, simple, the smocked fronts helped keep it interesting enough, and I really am quite in love with that square neckline. I feel that it looks so elegant.

I made a few modifications on the bottom ribbing, button edges and the neckline. Instead of using a US 6, I opted for a 5 as I felt it would look a little cleaner. Once the body is completely finished (sleeves, shoulders and all) the pattern then directs to work on the neck edge but as I was feeling inspired by kathok's Farmhouse Pretty (me) on Ravelry with that lovely, clean neckline edge, I knit the button bands first. I adjusted the number of picked up stitches to 87 as I felt  it needed more stitches to look its best and I made sure to knit 3 at the neck edge so as to have a stitch to pick up into. I positioned 9 button holes on the button band. Once the button bands were finished, I then moved on to the neck edge where I picked up 8 extra stitches on the edge of each button band and 22 stitches where the pattern suggested picking up 11 stitches from the long edge of the square (153 sts total). I added another button hole to make a total of 10 button holes for the cardi. Oof, technical stuff! 

In a previous post I mentioned wanting simple but eye-catching buttons, which is what I did. 10 simple round 2-hole mother-of-pearl buttons. I love the way they shimmer and take on the tones around them.

 

The pattern uses a saddle shoulder technique which I had never done before and to be honest, I was a little nervous about whether I would like the fit. Verdict: when I first tried it on, I thought that I didn't like it, but as I've had it on a little more, it's starting to grow on me. I think I've reached the point where I can comfortably say that I like it (although one shoulder fits better than the other?) and would make another sweater with this kind of construction. Oh yes, however, thank you, Quill on Ravelry for noting it, but the pattern should read slip 1, purl 1, turn, on the wrong side of the saddle shaping!

  
I really love this cardi. My first sportweight cardi for me! I think more knitting for me is bound to happen based on this great experience and result. I am overall very pleased with the fit and the way the yarn looks and I hope it will wear well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't pill too much. Aren't those smocks just lovely? And as I already said, I really adore this neckline! It sits beautifully in an unbroken line. I guess I do indeed feel so pretty wearing this!

 

P.S. I felt a little awkward having pictures of me taken like this as I'm really not used to it!