off the needles: Little Avocardigan

Here it is folks, my first ever knitted garment. It's been a journey, really it has, and now this little cardi's been knitted, blocked, stitched, snapped, and gifted to a special little man, I can share it with you. 

Knit a baby cardigan, they said. It will be easy, they said. Yup, naively I thought baby projects were easy (they're sooo small. How hard they it be?). In reality, it was a bit of a wrestle from start to finish. The pattern is Anderson by Lisa Richardson (all details on Ravelry here) and I used Golf by Lang, which I loved knitting with. 

I'm happy with the finished garment, but the process was tough. I had to face a lot of knitting fears - picking up stitches for the neckband and buttonband, working dreaded reverse shapings and fiddly pockets. But, I did it, then I stitched it all together (my least favourite part) and it worked! I guess the bottom line is if you don't challenge yourself, you don't learn, and I certainly learnt a lot from this project. It does make a nice cardigan, though I wouldn't recommend this pattern as a first garment project. The pattern was unclear in the very parts I needed it to be clear! Does anyone else sometimes find this with Rowan patterns? 

Main lesson learnt: the right buttons can transform a project. I mean, these ladybirds!

Okay, so maybe one of the sleeves is longer than the other, but shhhh. It's all part of the handmade charm. And rolled hems are soooo forgiving. Thank goodness.