Yoke Cardigans - for baby, for me

I have finished the baby cardigan for little baby Jemima. I had to get a move on because she is growing fast. Here we are:

little sheep

My fairisle knitting leaves much to be desired - i should definitely have used circular needles for the yoke so that it could stretch out properly. Or i should investigate what it is stranding or instarsia. As it is, it's a little wrinkled, but a sweet one i think. i am pleased with it.

Here is the pattern for that if you want to make one yourself. She gives a version for a boy or a girl so you can decide which is most appropriate. When i started knitting this it was before Jemima was born and i was expecting her to be a boy. I liked the version with the flowers though as thought the extra colour was nice, but used some peach instead of pink to keep it a little neutral. that is a good tip if you knit it for a baby that is not yet born. I think this is a lovely pattern for a baby.

I had never knitted a cardigan top down or with a yoke before, so it was really fun and exciting to watch how it grows and see how it came together. It was so satisfying and i thought it would be the perfect design to use up my Colinette Prism Toscana yarn that i had bought at christmas but not found anything good to do with yet (it arrived a bit different than i was expecting - a bit eco-warrior)

I thought i would need to do some conversions of the pattern to get to my size, but after doing a tension square i found that the Prism knitted on 6mm needles scaled up the pattern to exactly my size! I was unsure of this for a long while, but couldn't work out any other way of doing it, so proceded in good faith. and rightly! The only alteration was because i knitted the yoke in garter stitch i had to add in a few rows to keep the length right, and with the arms i knitted them straight instead of decreasing as on the baby one. they had to be a lot longer to make adult proportions.

Here i am, happy with the finished result

This it the back. i like the effect with the garter stitch yoke

a close up. the wool is pretty colours in the end.

I have not really worn this since i finished - i think perhaps a change of buttons will help, and maybe a wash will help settle it down a little. A good one for the autumn, over my summer dress.

I am excited to see Jemima in hers too.

Yours sheepily,

Emilia. xxxx