The Elsie Cardigan

This is my favorite kind of post. I got a lovely note the other day from Regina, a Crafty Bird reader, letting me know that she had knit some of the patterns from the shop and wanted to share her pictures. When I saw her lovely, lovely work, I asked if she would be willing to write about her experience with the Elsie Cardigan (a beloved Jane Richmond pattern) and she agreed. Yay! Hopefully this is only the first post she'll write for Crafty Bird!

Be sure to visit her blog, Cardigans and Kids, where she writes about parenthood, knitting, sewing, cooking, baking and other joys of domestic life.

The Elsie Cardigan

I love to give a handmade gift, however this spring a whole lot of friends are all expecting new babies.  This has caused a bit of a dilemma due to limited amount of time for crafting. Needless to say, I have been on the search for the perfect pattern for gifting. The Elsie Cardigan is it.

I love the Elsie pattern because the knitting is simple and straight forward, and the crochet edge is just as simple, but turns a cute cardi into an adorable cardigan.

The Elsie is written from the top down so you can easily see what the outcome is going to be. The sleeves are written to be 3/4, but since this one is going to fit late spring early summer, I knit less rounds and chose to bind off early. I also  made just one button hole instead of three. The only other  change I made was to add the crochet border to the neck line as well.

I also made the cardigan for a really good price. I used Lion Brand Cotton in Orchid and  didn't even need the entire skein to make the 3 month size. Like I stated earlier, the Elsie is a winner.  Now all I need to do is decide what yarn to cast on with before I begin the next one.

Thanks so much Regina!
Happy knitting everyone!