FO Report: Debbie Bliss Sailor Collar Cardigan

Pattern: Sailor Collar Cardigan by Debbie Bliss from Sirdar Baby Knits #275

Yarn: Phildar Phil Luxe

Needles: Knitpicks Options, size 3 and 1

Started: May 27, 2007

Completed: November 27, 2007

Modifications: None.

The pattern called for Sirdar Snuggly 4-Ply, but I substituted the Phildar yarn because it was what I could find locally that would work. I don't remember why I chose not to order the Sirdar yarn online - I think I wanted to swatch first before I decided? Anyway, I wanted a washable yarn since I made this for Sweetpea, and I do expect her to wear it, which means it will get quite messy occasionally. I found it cheap in a LYS, and I think it was on clearance. The label is yellowed which gives some indication of the age. I used 5 skeins, and almost had to rip out my swatch to have enough yarn to seam it together. I had mere inches left when I was finished!

This took me FOREVER to finish, but it was too cute to abandon completely! Although, I don't think I ever want to knit another bobble in my life. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, there are 262 bobbles on this cardi. I don't know whether it was the way I knit them, or if it was the nature of the acrylic, but they all wanted to sink through to the wrong side. To correct this (because trust me, I couldn't leave them looking like that), I took some white sewing thread and made a "X" stitch, or an asterisk looking stitch, on the backside of each one, then pulled the thread tight. I then secured the thread, cut it and moved on to the next bobble. This forced the bobbles to the right side. If you need more detail or technicalities of how I did this, feel free to ask. Sweetpea loves her "pwutty sweatah" and has wore it every day since it finished blocking. In fact, it was a struggle to keep her from wearing it to bed. I told her the sweater needed some "rest" too ;)

FYI - The book is discontinued, but I have seen it on ebay before.