Merino Cardi

It seems as though everybody is posting their merino cardigans this week....must be winter!  Not that it is winter here, in the land of the endless summer, but I will be traveling south shortly.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted one of those snuggly wrap sort of cardigans.  I have made the Papercut Circle Top before, but it doesn't stay on my shoulders, so I decided that I needed one with a bit more structure.  I thought about buying a new pattern, and there are plenty to choose from, but I felt a bit overwhelmed by my pattern stash that night and thought I could get one of my existing patterns to work for me.

Virginie wrote a couple of great posts on her re-creation of a Splendid cardigan (Part I & Part II), which got me started.  I couldn't let go of the idea of a hood though, so I had to make mine a little differently.  I google imaged "Splendid hooded cardigan" which brought up some great striped examples for me to have a closer look at - the stripes made it easier to interpret the pattern shapes.  I worked out that instead of extending out the front, as Virginie did, I needed to extend out to the side, from part way down the front side seam.

If you look at the above picture close up, you can see the grainline in the front piece.  The front edge is cut on a straight line and extends up into the hood.  Maybe you can see my beautifully mitred hem corners as well...or maybe I just know that they are there.

A view of the hood.  I didn't line the hood, or use French seams, but I did use matching thread in the overlocker.

I imagine that I would have it all wrapped around me like this (only with the sleeves down) when those winter winds rip across the oval as I am watching my boys play footy.

I think the hood will be useful when I am freezing in the airplane airconditioning or sitting around an evening beach fire.

This is how it looks with the front corners tucked up into my bra straps.   I like this look and am wondering how to add some sort of attachment to keep it in place.   I haven't added any closures to the cardigan yet.  I am thinking about adding a toggle at the centre front.

For the record, I started with the Stylearc Amy Top, which I must have got free with another order.  I straightened the hem, added a centre front seam, added my side shaping to the front side seam and swapped the cowl out with the hood from Burda WOF 11/2007 118, which I did have to reshape a little.

(PS sorry my comments have dropped off on all your blogs lately....life has been a bit full on around here.  I took a heap of photos of clothes to blog yesterday, and even I am surprised how tired I look in the photos....totally matches how I feel though.  Feeling guilty, but will return to commenting when things ease up a little).