Crocheted Cardigan, the Third

This is my third time crocheting this Roseline Cardigan for my eldest granddaughter, Autumn. The sweater is from a 2014 pattern by Sylvie Damey available on Etsy. I made the cardigan in pink with lilac trim the first time at age 3, per my post for 1/13/2016, where it was a snug fit. For my remake in lilac in a larger size, less than a year later, see my post for 10/19/2016. She is still squeezing into the lilac one six years later because she loves it.

Now Autumn just turned 10 and requested yet another grandma made cardigan, but this time she picked her own colors. She told me "blue" and "purple". Those two colors are open to interpretation so her mom, my daughter Robin, got out her color panel and had Autumn show us precisely what she had in mind. I would not have called the Winter Cherry color "purple", but it does coordinate well with the Waikiki blue. 

Without Autumn's guidance, I would have assumed she wanted the classic Crayola crayon color purple – or what I remember the color purple to be – and I would have been wrong! Classic Crayola's color is correctly named, VIOLET. So what is the difference?

Per Paintinggal.com 

Purple and violet are two different colors. Violet is the true color that we can see naturally in the world. Also, violet is made from a single wavelength of light while purple is the color our brain perceives when our eyes receive both red and blue light at the same time.

So the color in the decades old children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon is technically correct as a more reddish hue than Crayola's Violet.

I picked out these two colors, Royal Blue and Burgundy, in 100% acrylic yarns. I was lucky enough to get pretty close to Autumn's vision.

 

I elected to make a size 10 using two strands of the yarn and a crochet hook size K, one increment larger than the pattern suggestion. By using a size K hook I was able to meet the gauge specified in the pattern, 13 sts / 6 rows = 10 cm in dcfl (double crochet in front loop). 

I furiously worked on the cardigan but preparations for Christmas and the arrival of household guest for the holiday thwarted my progress. Just as well. I decided to postpone the sleeve length decision until my granddaughter arrived. Also by delaying, I let her pick out her own buttons from three choices I had for her. The choices were whales, sapphire bling, or smiley faces (also to be interpreted as red cars in a blue race track). My personal favorite was the whales, based on texture, color, and size. I guessed that, as a young girl, she would pick bling; but, to my surprise, without the least bit of hesitation or indecision, Autumn picked the whales, just as I did. She must have her grandma's tastes.

Here is progress on the sweater without sleeves yet or blocking. I have a 2022 goal to complete one knitted or crocheted item. If I can complete the sleeves today, I will declare having met my goal since all that will be left is blocking and buttons. I have a decent chance, since family just left yesterday to return to Oklahoma. The pause while I had company was fortuitous since it allowed my granddaughter to try on the cardigan for sleeve length. I knew how many more rows to add before the lace edging... namely, zero. At the point I paused, the sleeves will be wrist length instead of three-quarters, but kids do grow.

Today, with 2 ½ hours to spare until midnight, I succeeded in finishing the crochet on the second sleeve. I still need to sew in all the random strings. There are fewer than expected because of the minimal seams in the pattern by design; but the double strand of yarn offsets this potential benefit. Once I have sewn these in, I will steam block the sweater so the lace skirt and sleeve edges will stand out more crisply. I will leave that blocking task until tomorrow, January 1, 2023, since it needs to sit pinned in place undisturbed for a moderate length of time. Since the needle work portion is complete, I am still claiming completion of my 2022 knit/crochet goal. I will however update this post or publish an additional post to show the completed product, blocked and with whale buttons.