Finished Object: Willow's Lighthouse Keeper's Wife Cardigan

Okay, can I start with saying how beautiful this girl is?



This cardigan has been finished for a little while, but we have had torrential rain on and off for the last two weeks, so it has been difficult to get out and take pictures.

Full body:



The funniest thing happened with this sweater.  I normally knit when Willow and I watch TV together, so she had seen me working on this all along.  I have made a few things for Piper recently - but because she is so much smaller, they get completed much faster.  I finished my last little bits, balled it up, and tossed the sweater in Willow's lap.  Willow: "What's this for?" Me: "Try it on." Willow: "It's for ME?!"  It was nice to be able to pull this over on her in the open!

Side view



Back:



The Particulars: 

Pattern: Lighthouse Keeper's Wife by Melissa Schaschwary. A great simple, straightforward top-down pattern.
Yarn: Naturally Caron Spa (a little over 2 skeins for the XS size) - a bamboo/acrylic blend.
Needles: size 13 bamboo circulars (not my favorite needles - way too blunt!), and a J-size crochet hook. Would I Knit This Pattern Again? Definitely - and the next one will be for me - but not in this yarn. This yarn made a nice, airy summer-weight sweater, but was so splitty, especially with these blunt needles. The next time I do this I am going to use a provisional cast on for the hood so I can kitchener the hood rather than seaming. I opted to make long short sleeves (about elbow length) for Willow as this will be a summer cardigan. I created a stabilizing band for buttons by doing three rows of half double crochet along the button bands and hood. I did the same with the ends of the sleeves. The bottom of the sweater I opted for 5 rounds of garter stitch so the sweater wouldn’t roll up. I then added 2 small buttons on the front.



Knitting things for Willow can be a little hit or miss - so I am really happy that she likes this one.  It's also nice that she fits into the ladies' XS size, because there are so many more women's patterns out there than tween girl patterns.