I realised I never posted about my Granny Stripe Cardigan!
Here she is – still looking pretty good after more than a year of wear. The pattern is the Rainbow Petals Cardigan by Daisy Dots – she has a number of cardigan crochet patterns on Ravelry.
I made this for myself to fill a gap in what I laughingly refer to as my ‘wardrobe’. I’m trying to wear a bit more colour and pattern, and this design jumped out at me because it shows off the classic granny stripe so you get that crochet look, but it’s plain nearer your face which makes it a bit more wearable for me.
Although this pattern would be great for using up some yarn oddments, I bought yarn specifically for it. I knew I would have a lot of the colours left over, but since I was buying colours I love to wear, my plan was to use the leftovers to make a suite of accessories including ear warmers and gloves.
I didn’t want too much contrast in the colours, so I decided to replace the purply-pink Bellissima with a pinky-purple that I think works slightly better.
Here are the yarns I used:
| Stylecraft Bellissima DK | 3928 Silver Lining | Main Grey – 2 Balls | £6.70 |
| Stylecraft Bellissima DK | 3930 Bashful Blue | Ribbing | £3.35 |
| Stylecraft Bellissima DK | 3931 Double Denim | £3.35 | |
| Stylecraft Bellissima DK | 3934 Purple Passion | £3.35 | |
| Stylecraft Bellissima DK | 3976 Totally Teal | £3.35 | |
| Stylecraft Highland Heathers | 3753 Heather | £3.09 | |
| Total Cost (with lots of yarn left over) | £23.19 |
The Bellissima yarn is lovely and soft and smooth with loads of loft, so feels quite thick for a DK. I love the very slight heathering in the Double Denim and Silver Lining colourways. The Highland Heathers yarn is quite significantly thinner than the Bellissima, but that should not be too obvious in a granny stripe.
The cardigan is easy to make and works up quickly – there is nothing difficult about the stitches or construction. The top-down design means you can adjust the fit as you go along, which is great. Although you do have to cope with the fact the granny stripe blocks are upside-down in the finished cardigan! The pattern itself is not always an easy read, and it takes a little experience and/or experimentation to interpret in places.
I made a number of adjustments, including narrowing the body to make it less balloon-like on me, and considerably narrowing the sleeves. The finished cardigan sits just at my hip, a kind of bomber-jacket style.
In the end, I have enough yarn leftover from this project and similar colours from other projects, that I’ve decided to make myself a stash-busting striped vest before embarking on my planned smaller projects including the ear warmers, gloves, etc.