FO: Top-down raglan cardigan

Has your stash ever spoken to you? I had five skeins of yarn that, about a month ago, spoke up loudly; they said, "Knit us now. Knit us into a simple and comfy cardigan, and do it now." I don't even know what the yarn is. Each 100-gram skein has a little tag that tells me it is 25% alpaca / 35% wool / 40% Acrylic, and that's it. I'd say it's either heavy worsted or aran weight; it has a felted texture.

I looked for a raglan pattern that would make the most of the yarn (i.e., no seaming) and decided on cosmicpluto Laura's Top-Down Raglan Cardigan. I was happy to find there was enough yarn to make a longer-than-usual sweater, for extra coziness. I used a 4.5mm needle. If you knit this pattern, I'd recommend using a smaller needle at the start to work the neckband. I found the neckband too wide and floppy, so at the end I picked off the original neck, knit a new neckband on a 4.0mm needle, and attached the new neckband with a three-needle bind off. Much better. Then, to contrast with the sea of tweedy grey, I went to my jar of vintage plastic buttons and found ten blue and green ones.


It was all pretty easy until I tried to actually take pictures of my new sweater. Tricky! There's not much light getting into the house, and it's snowing outside. But I tried my best. I took some photos in the kitchen...


...and then I went out on the back porch...



...and then I took some photos in the living room, but when I looked at those ones I realized my fly was open in all of them. Sigh! Anyway, it's a simple and comfy cardigan, and my talking yarn and I are satisfied.

Happy holidays!