Countdown Cardi finished!

It’s all done! This project took just slightly over a month to finish, which feels pretty fast for a dk weight sweater for me. Working with my advent minis was a bit of a pain due to all the ends that needed to be woven in, but it was totally worth it. The final sweater looks amazing, plus the changing colors kept me interested the whole way through. Seeing how all of the colorways would play together was hugely motivating. It was extra fun to see how some of the minis that I had overdyed worked up.

For the finishing, I ended up trying an Icelandic bind off. This technique was new to me but it seemed like it would provide a polished finished look. After just a few inches of bind off I had to message a friend to gush about this technique. It looks fantastic, much prettier to my eye than binding off in pattern, although it is not “invisible” like some other methods. The photo above shows the comparison of the Icelandic bind off of the neckband next to a Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy bind off on the cuff. The Icelandic is not quite super stretchy but it has more give than a standard bind off method. I ended up bumping up my needle size by two which also helped give some extra stretch. This bind off is also way faster than any other method I’ve tried that looks this good. It feels a little fiddly at first but once you get going it is incredibly simple, and the steps are always the same whether you are working a knit or a purl stitch. I definitely will use this technique again!

The finished, unblocked cardi was way too short. Luckily I had done a swatch for this project, so I was counting on it to grow a lot in the wash. Sure enough, now that it is blocked it comes all the way to my upper thigh, which is perfect for a cozy cardigan. Unfortunately the sleeves also grew a bit. The circumference is still fairly fitted, but they are too long. The ribbing is still plenty snug, so the extra fabric just stays bunched up on my arms, which is an ok result. I don’t plan to do anything to fix it, especially since the cuffs are so long and I can fold them over to get rid of some extra length that way.

Overall this project was a ton of fun and I love the final result! Now I am debating whether I want to make another one to use up more of my advent minis! There is also a similar pattern from the same designer that I could try. That one uses garter stitch so there would be a lot less purling to do, which is a plus. But until I decide on that I am just going to enjoy wearing this one while the weather is still cool enough to enjoy it!

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