I was sick last month, so I stayed home for a few days and started a sweater. I wanted something cosy that I could wear around the house. I also wanted to use up some of the lovely alpaca wool that I got from my grandmother. And so, I made this folksy cardigan.

Pattern

Believe it or not, I didn't use a pattern. I used a calculator and my experience with the past cardigans I have made to shape the body. The sweater was knit in one piece from the top down with stitches put on hold for the sleeves, which were knit in the round.

At first, I was just going to do stripes, but that seemed boring. So, I used the fair isle designs from Stephanie Wilson-Leedy's hooded cardigan.

I was also inspired by the lovely fair isle cardigan my grandmother had made my sister.



Yarn

Most of the cardigan is made with Ultra Alpaca by Berroco that I got from my grandmother's stash. I threw in a bit from my stash, as well. The blue is leftover from my Acer cardigan.  The dark red is leftover from my husband's Lately cardigan. The alpaca is great - it is so soft and barely scratchy at all.


As with my husband's cardigan, I finished it off with a zipper. That way I can throw it on and off easily.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the cardigan. It isn't the sexiest sweater around, but it accomplished what I needed it to. I got through a lot of stash yarn, I challenged my knitting skills, and I ended up with a very cosy sweater.