Rainbow Cardigan

Whoopsie! I just found this draft from late last year that I forgot to post! Please read all in retrospect.

Woohoo! I finished the Fundamental Top-Down Women's Cardigan I showed you back in September in this post. I took the past week off to relax and finish up a few personal projects and I was so glad to make this one of them.

This is a crunchy, woolly rustic yarn with veg matter and yummy sheepy aroma and everything. It was also hand-dyed by my friend Shelly of the former Butternut Woolens. Shelly has moved on to other professional pursuits, but I still have lots of her hand-dyed yarn to enjoy. I took this group of six vibrant colors and mapped them out with the rainbow as my color guide and a slip-stitch chain colorwork pattern as my fabric. The sweater is an adaptation of my Figheadh Fundamental Women's Top-Down Cardigan. I chose the crew neck, although I tweaked it a bit. Okay, I made a slight error as I was knitting it, but I like it anyway. It's kinda like a crew-high-V neck.

Red-orange-yellow/tan-green-blue-violet!

As the stitch pattern is worked, some of the colors fall to the background (St st) while others are brought to the foreground (the purl chains). I used almost all of the six skeins by edging the sleeves with green, the body hem with green and blue and the front edges and the neck with purple. I had the most purple left over, so I knew it would be safe. I chose garter stitch for all the edges and I picked up all along the front opening and neckline at once. Then I crocheted chain loops that further the chain in the fabric and loop around toggles to close.

I love this cardigan and wear it regularly. It goes with everything! This is just one example of what you can do with a blank template like the Figheadh Fundamental patterns. This one is my favorite so far, though, because I cannot have too many cardigans. It's my favorite garment.

I have another six colors of the Homegrown that are more muted. Now to figure out what they will be. I'll let you know.

I am also updating the Figheadh Fundamental Women's Pullover to improve its sleeve caps, among other things, so it is taking a time out. All the other Fundamentals are active. I hope you'll try them for making hand knits with any yarn in your stash!