Bermondsey cardigan – Yards of Happiness

It’s Monday and I’ve got a crazy work week ahead of me, so why not start out with a finished object?
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I finished my Bermondsey cardigan for my Aunt over the weekend. I was originally going to make her a blanket and I bought 8 skeins of Berroco Vintage Chunky, 4 in grey and 4 in green (her favorite color). But then I decided a cardigan would be better for laying around in while you’re recuperating, right? So I decided I’d do a little color blocking but wanted to add a brighter pop to break things up. So I dug into my stash and pulled out a skein of Patons Shetland Chunky in a citrusy green shade. It was just enough of the punch that I needed for this one.
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I followed the pattern body to a tee but this time I made ribbed sleeves instead of garter stitch ones. You may remember that when I made my black and white Bermondsey my sleeves came out a bit long when I blocked it and I eventually went back and fixed them. Since she’s in Memphis and I can’t easily fix them I figured ribbed cuffs were easier to fold back if too long than garter stitch ones.
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I really do love this cardigan and the fun drape the front panels have. I knit this a size down from what I made myself (I’d say a medium) and since she has a small frame I wanted something that would be cozy on her. I think it will hug her perfectly. I do love how this Vintage Chunky yarn worked up and it washes up beautifully. I didn’t have any fuzzing or pilling and it is so soft and cozy. I’ve still got a few skeins of these colors left and I have 2 other shades in my stash…perhaps I’ll get to make something else with it soon!

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October 30, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Berroco, Color, green, Knitting, neutral (black/grey/white), Patons, Sweaters, YarnTags: #yardsofhappiness, Bermondsey cardigan, Berroco Vintage Chunky, knitting, sweater knitting, Yarn 9 Comments

Striped Bermondsey and me
I was going to wait and share this later, I’ve got some other baby knits that are finished, but I felt like sharing a finished object I’m excited about today.

This is my black and white striped Bermondsey cardigan that I knit for myself as a nice fall/winter staple for my wardrobe. I’ve been really attempting to build my wardrobe with things that I love and want to wear and make me happy. I’m working on a nice neutral cardigan that I can throw on with anything next but I’ve got more colorful knits coming down the pipeline soon. Oh and might I suggest this great article by Stacy London on aging and style on Refinery29, it’s a great read no matter what age you are about how you define your own style and how it evolves as you age. But back to this sweater. This sweater makes me super happy.
Striped Bermondsey and me
I originally knit this sweater in shades of blue for my sister after I took a class on sweater knitting. It was a simple bulky weight sweater with a few new to me things at the time so it was challenging but not too intimidating. What I loved the most about it when I made it for my sister was how it had an angular drape to the front. I knew I’d make it for myself at some point but when I started to think about it I decided I wanted to make mine with stripes. So I wrote out the pattern in my size line by line in excel and figured out I could do 10 row stripes of black and white. Writing it out and color coding the lines in Excel made it super easy to not mess up my stripes. And because I always need a little bit of color I added a super bright pink as the trim color. All the yarn I used for this was the Knit Picks Mighty Stitch Bulky.
Striped Bermondsey and me
I knit this in a size 42 for myself and the only issue I really had was that the armholes are a bit larger than I think they should be so I added a lot more decreases as I was working on the sleeves to try to slim them out. I tried it on often and I feel like my arm length is just a half an inch too long but that adds to the coziness of wrapping up in this sweater. If it starts to bother me too much I can always cut it back and redo the cuffs. I also shortened the length of the body because if I kept going it would’ve added two more stripes and that would’ve just been too long for me. At this length I can wear it with leggings on the weekend or slim pants like these crazy black and white graphic trousers I have on for work.
Bermondsey with stripes
I knew once I washed and dried this sweater in my machine the yarn would pill/fuzz up a bit so I made sure to have my sweater Gleener on hand to defuzz it and make it look like it was freshly knit. And it does! Not a fuzzball in site for these pictures. Also Jellybean is just like Cher and believes that my hand knits are meant for her to have a soft place to sit. I don’t have fuzzballs on my sweater but I always have dog hair on my sweaters LOL. I’m getting excited about fall being just around the corner. Now if we could just get over these 90 degree days and give me some chilly mornings I’d be a much happier knitter. Have you finished any sweaters for yourself for the fall season?