State of the Project: Sulo Cardigan, part II: the finale :D

After getting the need to make cotton summer tops out of my system, I returned to my aunt's Sulo cardigan last week. And about time too, I think, because August and slightly colder nights are not far off anymore. It did take me some time to finish the body it because I got somewhat bored with knitting flat and my auntie did want it to be longer than the somewhat cropped original version, so there was plenty of fabric for me to knit - and also I ran out of yarn so I had to order some more -, but the sleeves really flew by! I knit them on circulars using the Magic Loop method and was quite pleased with how they turned out. The triangular pattern on the cuffs and the buttons with the little flowers on them are probably my fave parts :-) 

A few pics of the Summer Nights cami!

This is kind of old news, but I realised I hadn't actually posted a photo of the finished garment, so here ya go: 

And here's me wearing it, serving Ronald McDonald realness. Love that for me!

But jokes aside, I really liked the clever little details like the body shaping with different sized needles, the cabled straps which are broad enough to cover bra straps and the method of decreasing which leaves a nice neat edge. Kudos to Ivana and I will definitely be keeping an eye on her future designs!

Buying yarn and knitting are two different hobbies.

 Ooff. 

As much as I try to be smart with money, I cannot resist a beautiful yarn/pattern and I've been really bad about hoarding yarn recently. Let's just count the losses, shall we?

• After posting about the Summer Nights cami on r/knitting, I was scrolling Reddit and happened on someone's photo of this absolutely stunning lace dress. I decided that I need to make one for myself as well and spent the next hours hemming and hawing over which yarn to use for making it.I initially settled on Austermann Magic Silk in a teal colourway and placed an order, but when I got the yarn, it just didn't feel right for the project. So last night I decided to bite the bullet and order a new yarn, BC Garn Jaipur Silk Fino, which is a very luxe 100% mulberry silk yarn and costs over twice as much as the Austermann. My dream is to have the dress ready by this year's Haapsalu Lace Day, which is on the 22nd of August, but considering the speed at which I knit lace, I think aiming for next year would probably be more realistic.
• Since I finished the summer tops, I restarted work on the Sulo cardigan for my aunt and to my surprise, I ran out of yarn before getting to the end of the body. So I ordered some more Drops Merino Extra Fine for the cardigan, but because Drops recently also came out with the gorgeous Soft Tweed yarn, I just had had had to get some skeins of that one as well. 
• And yes, I still have four skeins of Schachenmayr Catania in the colourway Sand. 

What am I going to do with all this yarn? Well, I have a few ideas. I'm thinking I will use the Austermann Magic Silk to make the Kevätaurinko shawl designed by Niina Laitinen, as I have enough of the yarn and getting the gauge exactly right doesn't matter that much anyway. The original pattern used alpaca yarn, but mine will be a more summery version. The Soft Tweed is just asking to become a cabled sweater. And the Catania will make another lovely summer top next year.

Having said all that, I am quickly running out of drawer space for my stash 😆

Spontaneous summer tops!

I am happy to report that I finished the Seleste tee a few days after my last post. I was on holiday down South and the weather was really hot (the temperatures were over 30 degrees Celsius, which is a LOT for where I live!), so I decided to let it dry in the garden. I was a bit worried about the sunlight bleaching it and also I didn't have a blocking mat, so I had to improvise a bit and hide it under the lilac bush:

And here is the finished garment! Gorgeous, no?

After finishing the Seleste, I wasted no time in casting on another summer top. I still had three skeins of Schachenmayr Catania in the colourway 'Mandarine' left and just before my holiday began, I saw someone post a picture of the Heart on Fire top in the Drops Workshop FB group and decided then and there that I needed to make one for myself as well. I think I did a pretty good job of it! The only mods I made were making the body a few cm longer, omitting the garter stitch edge and using the 3-way bind off to attach the straps to the back, rather than sewing them. 

Please enjoy this picture of the finished top and my cousin's orchid: 

I actually ran out of yarn as I was making the top and had to order a fourth skein. I decided to use the webshop of the yarn store where I bought the first three skeins from, because Catania Denim has gone out of production and I hoped they would have another skein from the same dyelot. But since I thought paying the delivery fee for just one skein would be silly, I ordered four skeins of Catania Solid in the gorgeous Gold colourway. I was actually a bit embarrassed and felt a bit like a yarn hoarder and didn't even have a plan for the yarn until the delightful Summer Nights Cami from Ivana Sturm popped up on my IG feed! 

It's a pretty simple design, but it has some elements that I think make it really clever. For one, the designer has used different sized needles for body shaping instead of increases and decreases (3.5 mm, 3.0 mm and 2.5 mm)! You can see how the gauge changes on the blocked garment (and please ignore the weird lighting, the sun was already low-ish when I took this photo):

The stitch count is the same for the entire body, it's just the needles that changed!

I also really like the cabled straps and Ivana's neat method for doing the decreases for the armholes and the V-neck. I also really like the yarn! And this gold colourway is actually stunning and it looks like I am knitting with an actual sunbeam! I will post some pictures of the top in better lighting once it's dry for sure. 

Also don't ask me how I'm getting on with auntie's cardigan.