Copper Queen

Pattern- Copper Queen by Melissa Kemmerer

Yarn-

MC: Madelinetosh Tosh Light in Farmhouse White

CC: Hedgehog Fibers Skinny Singles in Bright Club January 2020

Pattern Notes:

I decided to steek this cardigan because I have a really hard time doing stranded colorwork flat. It has something to do with purling and managing my knitting thimble, I think. Regardless I really liked the cardigan and decided to give steeking another ago. Since this is a V-neck cardigan or at least that how it seems to me I knit the cardigan flat until I finished with the front increases before joining in the round. It made the whole project go so much quick once I could just knit instead of purling. I hate purling!

I have only steeked once before and it went okay but not great and I made some stupid mistakes that have resulted in me not wearing it ever which is sad because it really is cute. I think the main problem was that I didn’t use the right type of yarn and I didn’t double reinforce it. This time I made sure I used a sticky yarn and not only did the crochet reinforcement, but also did a hand sewn reinforcement. I am happy to say it went so much better this time.

I was sad that when I washed my cardigan the first time the pink bled into the light grey. I was so disappointed that it did that, but I should have known better and washed it with very cold water and white vinegar. When I washed it a second time, I used vinegar and cold water and it helped and some of the bleeding lightened which was nice.

It is amazing what buttons do to the look of a cardigan. I originally had shell buttons and they looked good but when I washed the cardigan the shells got tarnished (they were cheap). It made me not like the cardigan as much and they weren’t holding the cardigan closed so well. I finally just cut the old buttons off and sewed on new ones and wow it made such a big difference. I like the cardigan so much more now.