From Cardigan to Cowl to Throw: A Tale of Super Bulky Yarn

Three years ago I knitted this cardigan:

It's the Marilyn cardigan from the book Twinkle's Big City Knits. If you haven't come across this book before, it's full of patterns in super bulky yarn - hats, cardigans, jumpers, you name it. 

Now, knitting in bulky yarn is great because it knits up so quickly. But knitting clothing in such thick yarn? Not so great. This cardigan was a stinker. It looked really silly on, with it's bell shaped sleeves - it would have been perfect for Karen's Ugly Amnesty, but I don't even have any photos of me wearing it. The photo in the book disguised the fact that the stitch pattern leaves big holes from the yarn overs. I think it's pictured in the book being worn over an evening dress (the book's since been charity shopped), and really, it's not fit to be worn in real life.

I certainly can't recommend the book - stupid patterns notwithstanding, nearly every single pattern has some kind of error in it, requiring you to check the online errors on the publisher's website.

This project was a classic beginner's mistake, but not a cheap one as I had to shell out about £60 for the wool (6 balls of Rowan Big Wool) and two pairs of really large needles (15mm and 17mm circulars). Once ripped out, what on earth was I going to do with all that wool?

Well, some of it had a brief incarnation as a cowl:

But I only wore it once, and didn't really like the shape. So it was also frogged. Rrrrrrrriiiiiipppp!!

All of that super bulky yarn was really taking up a lot of space in my yarn stash, so a few weeks ago I bit the bullet and got it all out again. I started knitting some stripes, adding in some red wool I was given by a work colleague. And I knitted and knitted until I got this:

 

Just a big ole' knitted rectangle. I think the garter stitch shows off the yarn well and it feels really cosy and squashy. I have put it over the back of the sofa, where it will of course get covered in cat hair, but it will also handily cover some marks on the sofa (the danger of a cream sofa...) and looks nice and bright. The green even goes with the lampshade (though not with the cushions or curtains, but let's ignore that).

If I was making it again I'd make it a bit wider, but I wasn't sure how far the wool would go. I'm pretty chuffed with the resulting bit of knitting, and tell myself it's the kind of thing you'd see for lots of money in a fancy shop. I'm certainly not ripping it out again - that's for sure! I'm very proud of my nifty bit of stash busting, and have added The Little Red Squirrel's Stash busting button to my blog to celebrate.

Have you had any yarn which has been recycled multiple times?

K x