Monday, April 7, 2008

In the Spring, A Young Girl's Fancy Turns to Cardigans


I finished my Mirabella cardigan! You know, I loved this cardigan from the moment I saw it on the IK preview website. In fact, I bought the yarn for it even before the magazine came out. And when I finally got my hands on the Spring issue of IK, I was not disappointed! Kudos to Jennifer Tallapaneni for a beautifully constructed and well-thought-out pattern. Jennifer includes great details--a knitted hem, needle size changes for additional subtle waist shaping, slipped stitch "darts", a double-knit collar, and crocheted buttonband. I had never done double knitting before, and for the first few rows, I was just blindly following the directions. Then suddenly, it began to make sense! When I finally was able to grasp the topology of it, I saw just how clever double knitting is, and this project was the perfect little introduction. As for the buttonband and button loops, I was very nervous about doing these since I am really, really bad at crochet. To be completely honest, I'm not sure I even did them right, but I like how they turned out anyway and will probably come back to this way of doing them again. More details are in the gallery.

Because I'm still in a cardigan mood, I have bought some Berroco Comfort for Currer and some Hempathy for this Lacy Leaf Cardi. I'll keep you posted, of course!

13 comments:

  1. It's beautiful! The fit is phenomenal, and the color is gorgeous. Seeing yours makes me much more enticed by the patern than the pic in IK.

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  2. WOW! This is one of the most stunning FOs I've seen in a long while. Just gorgeous. That color is amazing.

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  3. Absolutely beautiful ! I love the softness of the blue. It's gorgeous. Love the future projects you've chosen also.

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  4. This looks wonderful on you and it does indeed look like a very well thought out pattern. I just found out about Magknits from your other post too. I think it's very sad that the knitting community had to lose such a great site.

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  5. I agree with everyone. This is just beautiful and you wear it well.

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  6. Very classy! It fits you perfectly -- I love how the darts look. What a nice detail.

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  7. That looks great! Perfect for spring. You make such pretty things!

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  8. Very nice (and it goes so well with your skirt)! It's beautiful on you : )

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  9. I totally agree with everyone, this is super gorgeous! Very beautiful indeed :)

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  10. Very nice cardigan. Love the color and the matching skirt. Make me want to make one also.

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  11. That is sweeeeeeeeet! So well fitted. Now that's the kind of knitting I aspire to.

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