FO: Coraline and Joukahainen

Pattern: Coraline by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino (DK/8ply), Colourway Blackberry
Needle Size: 3.25mm/US3 & 3.5mm/US4
Alterations: The only alteration made was adding extra length to the sleeves and body (mainly because my gauge was out slightly...I didn't swatch!)

I really enjoyed this pattern for a few reasons, its nice and quick, relatively easy and I learnt a few new techniques, the provisional crochet cast on and the I-cord bind off. The knitted hem and the I-cord edgings around the sleeves and neck also give a nice finished look to the cardigan and is a nice change from the usual ribbed edges of cardigans/jumpers. The cardi fits perfectly and I love the shimmer of the silk and merino yarn, great colourway too (as is always the case with Malabrigo yarn). Its safe to say that with this cardigan now completed I'm looking forward to cooler autumn weather.

Now onto the next FO....

Last year my partner asked me if I would knit him a plain, no frills black jumper, which I of course jumped at the chance. So I found this pattern and decided to use Malabrigo worsted, which I ordered online from a store here in Australia. So I cast on around this time last year, knitted pretty much all of the jumper (its knit bottom up and all in one), up to the beginning of the neck decreases when I ran out of yarn only this time I couldn't find any black Malabrigo in Australia (I only needed one ball), so I had to order it from the USA. When it finally arrived I went to wind it, by hand (I didn't have a ball winder at this stage), only to find that the skein was in a massive tangle and the only way out of this mess was to cut the yarn and roll, cut the yarn and roll etc...so in the end I had about six small balls of this yarn. By this stage I just lost heart and the jumper was thrown, I mean placed nicely, in the cupboard until a month ago when Paul asked what had happened to his jumper. I reluctantly pulled the thing out of the cupboard entered it into the Ravelympics (good for motivation), and started knitting again, and after two nights worth of TV knitting I had finished it!

And after all that, here it is...

Pattern: Joukahainen by Kristel Nyberg (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, Colourway Black
Needle Size: 5.5mm/US6

So after all the drama I'm happy with the FO, it fits well and is exactly what Paul asked for, a simple jumper, which unfortunately turned out to be far from simple to complete.