You are by now probably aware that I have a box of projects that I gave up on partway through. Some of these projects have been in there long, others shorter. Today I’ll show you another saved project that entered the box at least two times. It’s a cotton cardigan and the pattern is called Gaia.
Gaia is a free pattern by Kristen TenDyke that features a button closure and a lacy bust section at the front. Originally it has fairly short sleeves and a band of different stitches beneath the bust. Since I don’t generally wear short sleeved cardigans, I lengthened the sleeves. The instructions were fine, it did take me a while to figure out how to increase to the bust, but the knit-along on ravelry helped me out.
I first chucked Gaia in the box when I had the body done completely and one sleeve set up. It was winter and I subconsciously knew I was never going to wear a cotton cardigan in winter and therefore there was no hurry to finish it. I think it again went in the box with both sleeves partly done and it stayed on my ironing board waiting for some anti-gaping ribbon to be installed on the button bands for quite some time too, I sort of chronicled that in the ravelry-project.
When even the model picture shows gaping in the button bands (and only two buttons buttoned), I guess that there is something to worry about. This is the one real negative I have about the pattern, that the button bands gape so much, even after I tried reinforcing them with ribbon. Below you can see the before picture.
There were some really nice matching buttons in my stash that were also the right size, so that made me very happy. I have worn the cardigan a bit since I finished it, you’ll see it in a MMM round up at some point. It’s not perfect, the sleeves have become shorter than intended and there is still some gaping, however, it’s not uncomfortable to wear so it might see the daylight more often.
I have also finished some socks, so you’ll see those soon.
