Crochet: the (not) bear hooded cardigan

Last year I bought a few balls of yarn at the Made Marion moving sale and went in search of a crochet pattern to suit the oversized yarn.

Its a DMC Natura XL Just cotton in 07 lagon and its 'super chunky'. I found a pattern I liked on ravelry (Bear Hooded Cardigan) and I was off.

It took far too long to make this despite the small size of the finished product. I ran out of yarn and Made Marion was out - I assumed they weren't going to stock it any more as they made product changes during the move.  But I should have asked as it was back in stock BEFORE my order arrived from overseas.  Also having chatted with the lovely Brendan at the counter, I really should have asked as they would have been more than happy to accommodate if possible. Bah!  Hopefully a mistake I don't make again.

I found the hem stitches a little hard to follow and realise my mistake now after I managed to get it working beautifully on the sleeves.  Ah well.

Hem

Sleeves

I sorted through my button stash for suitable closures but they were far too small after I sewed them on.  I should have read the instructions a little more carefully. I swapped the stash buttons out and made another trip to Made Marion for ones that would work.

Too small!

Just right!

The pattern calls for a 5mm hook but I have a tight stitch and I sized up to 6mm. I'm not convinced in hindsight it was enough!  I made up size 2-3 but its a little small on my 2 year old so its going to a great home to her cousins.

Pattern: Bear Hooded Cardigan (currently US$4.99)

Hook: 6mm (pattern calls for 5mm)

Yarn: DMC Natura XL Just cotton in 07 lagon super chunky from Made Marion (mostly). I lost track of how many balls it took - I think 7?

Size: 2-3y

Changes: I left off the ears as I ran out of yarn and didn't want to buy another ball for just those pieces.  

See? So close...

You get to choose the number of buttons so I used my trusty SimFlex expanding sewing gauge - ha! any excuse!

Verdict: Cute and I'm really disappointed it doesn't fit my little one - the only way I could find motivation to finish was to realise I could gift it to her cousins!