Rainbow cardigan and another donation

I'm so delighted that the little green cardigan I wrote about in my last post was voted as one of the favourites in Linda's latest stash buster party.  A couple of years ago, Linda, who is a fellow Loving Hands member, had the brilliant idea of holding on-line stash reducing parties to showcase the items we make to reduce our stash.  Lots of crafters from all over the world share their projects on her website and vote for their favourites.  There are some amazing items featured in these showcases and it's a real pleasure to have had one of mine voted as a favourite.  Thank you Linda for all your hard work in hosting the link-up.

Last week I was put in touch with a lady who, very generously, had a lot of yarn to donate to Loving Hands.  It was all coned yarn, and I filled my car with around 100 cones.  Coned yarn is normally sold for use with knitting machines and is often very fine.  Most of this, however, was 4 ply, which is great for hand knitting too.  I advertised the yarn on our Loving Hands forum, and I have been busy this week sending out boxes of it to groups and individual members.

I have kept some cones for me to use too, and I couldn't resist knitting a garment this week.  I chose 2 cones, one in grey and one in a grey / multicolour mix, to put together to make worsted or aran weight.  As it happens, a couple of weeks ago, before I knew about this donation, I bought myself a wool winder.  Boy, has it been useful this week!

When I started knitting a cardigan, my intention had been that, with plenty of grey in the yarn, it would be for a boy.  By the time I came to knitting the button bands, I was not so sure.

I consulted my colleagues on the Loving Hands forum, and they almost unanimously confirmed that this should be a girl's cardigan.  So I put the buttonholes on the girl's side, and, sure enough, when it was all sewn up and finished, it could only be destined for a little girl.  

It is 26 inches across the chest, so should fit a five to six year old.  Although the photo doesn't pick them up well, I found some sparkly oval buttons which I acquired from the Scrapstore, and they finish it off perfectly.  A big thank you is due to Nicola, who made the yarn donation; it will keep lots of LH members busy for many months to come!