Sheep in a meadow

Sometimes I would like to meet my terrible needlework teacher from fourth grade again, just to be my eight year old self again and sticking out my tongue at her, showing her that all her humiliating behavior didn't stop me in the end (although it took many many years until I picked up those knitting needles again). She probably would have never thought that I was actually able to knit a sweater! Well, she's long gone I assume, sitting on a cloud knitting slippers for the angels (or "horn warmers" for the devil?).

Two weeks ago I finished this baby cardigan - the very first cardigan I ever knit. It is far from perfect, but I'm immensely proud of it.

I first saw it in my favorite yarn store and immediately thought that this would be perfect for a very special girl whose first birthday is at the end of this month. She lives in the Chicago area and can definitely use a warm sweater. The owner of the store gave me the link to the pattern on Ravelry, and a few days later I cast on the stitches. If you look at the pictures of the original pattern you see that it is a bit different than the cardigan I made, which was inspired by the yarn store.

Instead of two there is only one line of sheep, happily hopping along the "meadow". I think two lines are just too busy for such a small piece of clothing. My sheep are purled with two strings to give them a more fluffy look - they're sheep after all! While we were in Colorado over winter break I found these adorable sheep buttons at a yarn store in Boulder - they had the right size and were just perfect for my project!

I used Malabrigo Rios yarn in lettuce - a pure superwash merino wool that is perfect for baby clothes. I love this yarn. It feels good, is very soft and easy to work with. I usually knit with bamboo needles and the stitches smoothly glide off those needles. It makes for fast knitting.

Here is the cardigan - probably still too big for that special girl, but she will grow into it.