A tale of two cardigans

Actually, it is a tale of one cardigan - Cloudy - with some photos of the second one - Blue disaster. I decided to put them together because they are both summer cardigans and the process of making them was rather frustrating but in a different way.
I decided that I needed more summer cardigans because the only one that I had with me last winter in Florida was extremely handy and I wore it on multiple occasions. When I saw Cloudy in the last Kim Hargreaves’ book, I thought that it would be a great addition to my wardrobe.
A couple of words about the yarn that I used to make Cloudy. The only thing that I know about this yarn is that it is made by ColourMart. I’ll explain.
Several years ago my husband suddenly asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Since he doesn’t do it often – about once every ten years – I got superexcited and asked for the ColourMart yarn. I’ve read a lot about it on Ravelry and seen many wonderful projects made out of this yarn. Yet, every time I would go on their website, I’d get paralyzed by too many types of yarns to choose from. My husband on the other hand never had any problems with decisions plus he is efficient to the fault. He went on Ebay and bought the yarn there. Later  under a Christmas tree I discovered a big (huge!) box full of yarn that had no information about the weight, length, content or anything. There were chocolates in every pack, but nothing else. He picked good colors though – the ones that I definitely like. But it is difficult to figure out what to make out of a certain yarn if you have no clue about at least its length .I managed to identify some of it later (for example, the one that I used while making Blok). But most of it was left un-indentified, like Jane Doe in a mystery novel.
Making Cloudy from this yarn was, in a way, a leap of faith for me. I wasn’t sure I had enough yarn to actually finish the garment. It turned out that I had more than enough, and I was able to make the cardigan longer than in the original pattern because when I wear a cardigan I like my butt to be covered. At least the best (or worst) part of it.

Cloudy has a boxy shape, no side decreases or increases. The different length of back and fronts makes it look modern and a little oversized. The actual cardigan pattern is rather easy and straightforward. As soon as you figure out the directions for which size are right for you. Mine were for the size L. I made 6 buttonholes (the pattern calls for just 5) because I changed the length of the garment.

A raveler who already made this cardigan recommended trying first a sleeve or a front. She was so right! I had to reknit my first sleeve 5 times. Because of the lace pattern. It is not difficult per se – just two rows (no schematics, just row by row explanations), yet, somehow I kept making mistakes in it. Usually, in a pattern there are rows where you have to pay attention, concentrate, count, and other rows where you can relax and just go on autopilot. No autopilot for this lace! At least, not for me. I had to redo every part of this cardigan, the right front – 5 times, which made the whole process rather frustrating. This is not a pattern for the weak hearted, you’ve got to really commit to be able to finish it. My recommendations would be to start with yoga or meditation or both before you even buy any yarn for this cardigan. And no, I will not make it again. Ever.

I love the end result though. This garment is airy and lightweight, perfect for summer (or winter in South Florida). The yarn after washing lost its papery feeling, got much softer while keeping a very good stitch definition. Great yarn! It is a shame I have no idea what it really is. Can somebody help me?
And here are some pictures of me wearing the Blue disaster, my other summer cardigan.

 

You can also see these projects on Ravelry - Cloudy and Blue disaster.