Cardigan

This was truly a case of what came first - the Cardigan or the dress.

I made both - this post is about the cardigan - because it came first.

There is a group on Ravelry, called Free Pattern Testers.  Every once in a while I will troll through the posts and find something stunning!  This was such a case.

Jennifer Wood was asking for testers for her Beautiful Liana, here's a link to her blogpost.  Jennifer is quite a prolific designer and I love her designs.  

I didn't pause when throwing my hat in the ring for this lovely design.  I only hesitate over my yarn choice.  I knit this with Malabrigo lace - which I love.  The yarn is soft and cushy and make incredible fabric.  I've knit several shawls from it, Mal Lace is truly one of my favorites to knit with.  

It doesn't show very well in these photos, but this cardigan is full of twisted stitches, cables, twisted rib and lace!  I used 4 full hanks of yarn and just barely dipped into the 5th.  I knit on US 1.5 (2.5mm) needles and magic looped the sleeves.  This sweater was started on March 8th and finished in Spain on May 1.  Thank goodness we were given an extension of time to finish!

The fabric for the dress just happened to be sitting on my ironing board one day while I was winding another hank of the yarn.  I noticed how well they went together.  I didn't make the dress I had originally planned, but I'm quite happy with the one I did make.  I'll tell you about the dress next time!

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?