Finished

 My 1st Aran cardi is finished, I used sewing clips to hold the sides together whilst sewing up, the clips made it much easier as nothing moved, I will use them always when sewing together. I used Aztec from James Brett and was happy not to have any knots in the balls, this is 90% Acrylic and 10% Alpaca, machine washable, so I should not have any issues with itching. The yarn is purple as seen in the smaller photo.

I decided to reuse the silver buttons, I cut them from my scruffy cardi, which is now in the bin. George loves these buttons, and rubs them each time I'm wearing them. I did check to see if there were any other buttons in my local shop, but they had nothing I liked. These are metal and will outlast this garment. I am very pleased with this cardi, it feels warm, it's a bit snug, but will relax as I wear and laundry it, I enjoyed the design, and I am very pleased with the collar, it will perfectly replace my scruffy one. I will wear this one when out from our home, which is a bonus as my scruffy one was only worn inside.

I am now back working on my brown fleck one, I am not sure if I will make a collar on this one, I don't have to decide until the very end, so I have time to think. I did have a struggle matching the shoulder designs together on the purple cardi, so I unpicked the last few rows on the back of this one and reknitted without casting off and doing the same on the front as well. I knitted a stitch from the back and front together until the whole section was done, then I caste off, it looks much better and has a flexibility which will be good to wear.

The cost was only £27.00 for the purple yarn, 8 x 100 grm balls, and £3.50 for a set of knitting needles, my local shop gives me a 10% discount on certain purchases as a loyal customer, we don't have a card, the till is very modern and works it all out, very clever. Before when I purchase yarn on line I always get an extra ball and I never return it if unused, it's good to be shopping local and return full balls, she will keep a couple of balls aside if I don't want to purchase them. It did take a week to sew on the buttons and finish this, I have history of not sewing on buttons, I don't know why, it's just so fiddly. 

Whilst emptying the spare room and moving all my yarn stash, I went through all my yarns, I had so many odd full and part balls, mainly 4ply and a bit of double knitting, I popped them on our local Facebook page and they were collected the same day, I do see people trying to sell their left overs, but I was happy to pass them on for free. 

I am working on my cross stitch, the design I had sorted, was too big, so I am putting in skeletons of bits of designs to work around. I have been sketching on my calendar wheel, I want to embroider some more on it,  April is catch up month.

PS. I hate that photo, what face am I pulling.