Provence Baby Cardigan

Last night I finished sewing together the Provence Baby Cardigan. It is a free pattern from Classic Elite Yarns.  I used a little over 3 balls of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK yarn. I just need to find three buttons.

It was a quick and easy knit but a pain in the butt to sew together. If I were to knit it again, I'd probably knit the moss stitch button bands as I go and add a stitch between it and the lace pattern. I did like the easy neck finish and would definitely use it again. To do it, with RS facing and starting on the right front with the smaller needles, pick up all the stitches around the neck including the button band stitches on each side, then knit one row (WS). Then bind off all the stitches on the RS knitwise. Easy peasy! I might also knit the body in one piece so as to minimize the amount of sewing up. I also noted some people on Ravelry picked up the stitches around the arm and knit the sleeves towards the cuff. So using those three modifications, you'd eliminate all of the seaming.

Modifications: I did do was to mirror the lace pattern. On the left front I knit as per the 8 row lace pattern. On the right front I started at row 5 and knit to row 8 then rows 1 to 4. I also knit the sleeves in the round to avoid those seams. I remembered to cast on 2 fewer stitches as I didn't need them for the seam. If converting a pieced cardigan pattern to knitting in one piece, remember to knit 4 fewer stitches as you will not need those seam stitches (2 on each side).

I also made a custom label using Grumperina's tutorial which uses grosgrain ribbon (I used 7/8" for this one) and iron-on transfer paper that can be run through (in mirror image) on the printer. It's kind of fiddly getting the label to peel off uniformly. It took me 6 tries but the result was worth it.

For my kind of transfer paper, it was recommended you iron it on an arborite (or equivalent) counter top and use a pillow case between the label and the countertop. As the iron is heated to its hottest setting (make sure there's no water in the iron) it will discolour the pillowcase so I suggest you use an old one.

I'm still waiting to see if I have spelled the child's name correctly. I only know she was born by c-section on September 1.

In the package, I'll also include one of these petal bibs.  It's from Leigh Radford's "One Skein" book, which I'm so happy is in my public library's collection.

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