Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear

I love this cardigan. It's made in the season's hottest colors for boys and features a bold and modern design. I even saw a similar sweater on one of the Beckham kids. Get yours now--only available for a limited time!!!

Did I sell you on the sweater yet? Nothing is true about the above, but I figured a good sales pitch complete with celebrity endorsement would make Little C's cardigan seem more attractive. The real truth is this: I planned on making a solid yellow cardigan for him, but I only had one skein of the yarn. I didn't think it would be a big deal to find this color, but OH HOW WRONG I WAS! This yarn is around 10 years old and who knows when they discontinued it. Here I was with 75% of a cardigan completed. I tried to add in the second color without it looking so obvious that I ran out of yarn. Although I would never normally pair these two colors together it has kind of grown on me. Coincidentally, Little C. has a couple long sleeve t-shirts in these colors; the cardigan will look pretty cute over them.

I didn't follow a pattern for this sweater, but I've made this pattern so many times that I organically followed the same construction technique used in it. I've also never sewed in a zipper before. That was fun.

Ok. I'm lying again. It wasn't fun. Confession time: I bought the wrong kind of zipper. The zipper is for a garment like a dress or something; it doesn't open at the bottom!!! Not a good zipper choice for a cardigan, which is supposed to open. I'm pretty sure it said "all-purpose zipper" on the packaging, but maybe it really said "multi-purpose zipper" instead?I had already sewed one side of it, and I just decided to run with it. I'm really very adaptable. Or lazy.

Part of the reason for just going with the flow on this one (besides laziness) is how much time it took to get to this point. I feel like I've been messing around with this sweater forever. I bought the zipper awhile ago too while Little C. threw a fit in the craft store, and he wasn't very happy with me this morning when I quickly sewed the zipper in at the kitchen table. He's cutting teeth, poor little guy, and he wants momma's undivided attention.

After all that, I'm happy with the final product though. I thought about buying the right kind of zipper and doing it over, but I don't think I would ever have Little C. wear the cardigan all the way open anyway. So it'll stay and it will just be our little secret.