Comfort Fade Cardi

The Comfort Fade Cardi is today's topic.  This pattern is by Andrea Mowry.  This sweater is nice since the coloring is so customizable.  If you scroll through the completed projects on Ravelry, you can see how different each one looks.  You choose four different colors, and the pattern gives you instructions on when to change colors in order for it to fade.

Above is my completed project.  I had noticed when getting inspiration from others some people's cardis that some faded and some striped.  I wanted more of the fade look so when picking out colors I was looking for some variegated yarn in order for it to blend easier.  I noticed if a solid color was used in the middle of the fade, it would come out at noticeable stripes.  I tried to make sure that any of the colors on mine that would be touching would have some of the same color in them.  This was made a little more difficult since I was ordering these online.  I was searching through Jimmy Beans Wool, and decided that Malabrigo Arroyo was the way to go. I then chose to fade from blue to green.  If you look though my projects page on Ravelry, you will notice a trend in my frequenting using blue and green.  They are usually my go to colors.

Bloomsbury Sweater

Today I'd like to talk about the Bloomsbury by Svetlana Volkova.  I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it, and knew I would have to make it.  When I first saw it, I was not quite at the level I wanted to be in order to feel comfortable giving this a go.  I added it to my Ravelry queue, and waited until I gained some more experience.  Some months later while browsing my local yarn store, I saw some Malabrigo Rios, in the Paris Night colorway, that I knew I had to have.  I grabbed enough for a sweater, and waited until I found the right pattern.   I decided I wanted to make this sweater with it, but my problem was it was a slightly lighter weight yarn than what the pattern called for.  After gauge swatching, and some math,  I figured out I could use the Rios.  I had use the pattern specifications for the XXL size, and it was hopefully going to come out the size I was wanting it to be.