That's just jim Dandy

It was one of those moments where I lost control in the excitement of meeting yarn designer and textiles artist extraordinaire Kaffe Fassett. Splendid chap! I wasn't really planning on buying that night, but oh well. I'm weak.

Four skeins and a pattern book later, I whipped up another little something....you know, for warmth.

Here's Dandy, a Sarah Hatton design, using Kaffe Fassett's Rowan Colourscape yarn in Chunky, 100% lambswool, colourway Misty. Modelled by Andrea W.



It has a very loose fit with no shaping, and not a sweater design I would normally be drawn to. But it was fun! The 6.5 mm needles really got the job done in a hurry.

After consulting with Anina (who made the same sweater in two days, ahem), I decided to make the body a little smaller by reducing the number of front edging sts to 11 from 13. Also, when I pieced the fronts to the back, I used a 2 st seam allowance on the back instead of the usual 1, when mattress stitching.

I blocked the pieces before starting to piece them together. It makes the seaming experience SO much more enjoyable. Here they are, all dry and ready to be joined.



After knitting the edgings, the pattern says to sew them to the front piece, without specific instruction. I began using the working yarn in a mattress stitch style, but I didn't like the seam. I thought it was a bit thick. I was not convinced a good blocking would remove that pucker created at the starting point.



So after a bit of thought, I chose to use three strands of embroidery floss in a neutral colour, with small invisible stitches on the wrong side.



Here's the right side, edging attached. This works for me, it's so flat! And I love the colour contrasts.



Pretty stained wood buttons are from Button Button.