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Jaeger Jenny Cardigan & Beret


Pattern: Jenny
Book: Jaeger JB29
Materials: Knit Picks Merino Style
Amount: Cardigan - 4 balls 'Storm', 1 'Frost', 1 'Harvest', 1 'Vanilla'
Needles: US3 and US6 bamboo, US7 plastic for fair isle pattern
Cost: Cardigan - at $2.49/ball approx. $17.50
Start Date: I can't remember. I think I started this last December and stopped sometime in January because I kept making too many mistakes. I restarted it again a couple of weeks ago.
Finish Date: Aug. 9, 2007 (still needs buttons though)

I wanted to make this cardigan with the same yarn the book calls for, Jaeger Baby Matchmaker DK, but found it impossible to find the yarn in the colors the pattern calls for. The colors are either wrong or they were discontinued. I also tried finding errata for Jaeger pattern books to no avail. Really frustrating.

I finally gave up and decided to substitute with cheaper KnitPicks merino wool. I picked the colors from their website. When I got the yarn, the colors were so hideous! They are super bright and saturated, nothing like what they show online. Yes, I know they might look different on my monitor but I looked at them on at least 4 different monitors and no, they are just way off. I recently got one their catalogs in the mail and the colors are much better represented there. Needless to say, I was really disappointed with the colors but decided it would be a learning project anyway, since I've never knit anything with more than one color.

I did the beret first to see if I could get the hang of it. I thought it went well but then noticed that the contrast colors were a bit too tight on the back and my seeming wasn't very smooth. The fair isle went much better on the cardigan and when pressed, it was much smoother. I finally figured out how to do the mattress stitch seeming on the cardigan but not until I got to the second side. So one side looks much better then the other.

The pattern was pretty easy to follow or I'm finally learning a few things so I'm not getting stuck like I did when I first started. One other thing I didn't like about the KnitPicks Merino Style wool was that the dark blue color stained my bamboo needles. And to irke me even more, I just found out that Jaeger is being discontinue and Matchmaker DK is on clearance everywhere. I actually thought about buying it and making the cardigan all over again but I still can't figure out the right colors to get to match the one in the book.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with the cardigan as far as accomplishing it with the skills needed. (The white balance is kind of off on the pictures which actuallly makes the yarn colors look much better than real life).

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Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2007 at 9:28 PM

    I think it looks wonderful. When I first saw the top picture, I thought it was a magazine picture and immediately wanted to know which magazine it was so I could buy it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anne MarieJanuary 12, 2009 at 5:03 AM

    Ohhh. I love this book. I had one but lost it (left it) on my flight to the USA this last summer. I was so sad. And now it is impossible to find it since it is out of print... Lucky you! :-)

    ReplyDelete

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