Red beauty

I'm so happy to have finished my Vine yoke cardigan in time for Christmas! The yarn is just wonderful, and I love the colour.

I had this pattern queued for a long time. In Gothenburg summer 2010 I found the perfect yarn at Strikk: Malabrigo baby merino.. Wonderfully soft, beautifully red, (and a little more expensive than the yarn I use to buy...)

Vintage buttons found on Etsy - a perfect match, I think (they're a little heavy, though, that's the only problem). I always think nice buttons are hard to find. And if I find them, they're way too expensive. I found some in my yarn shop that cost 42 N kr (almost 7 $) each! But on Etsy I found several nice vintage buttons, and a lot cheaper. And since I love parcels in my mail box, that's a perfect solution - I even had them in less than a week, from the US.


The pattern is well written. Easy to follow. It took me a few minutes to figure out how the button holes were supposed to be made, but when I just followed the instructions, they came out beautifully. Very clever (not me, Ysolda...) And I've never done provisional cast on for a real garment before, just for hats and wristwarmers, but it worked just fine (for the sleeves). I always have to take a look at this tutorial first, though.

What else to say? Yes, I lengthened the sleeves by ten stitches. And did size 36. My gauge was, for a change, perfect. It's a big size 36, really, but I'm between 36 and 38, so thats's perfect too. I'm amazed about how the pattern kept telling my on what row of the yoke pattern I was supposed to be, after several steps of short rows etc - and I was! I made the neck opening quite a lot bigger than the pattern called for, I think it would have been way too tight if I hadn't - that's my only question about this beautiful pattern. And I used less yarn than the yardage in the pattern said - I have 1 1/2 skein left. A hat, maybe?