It's Made From Grass

Yes I have made a cardigan out of grass, bamboo being a type of grass after all. The yarn is Cleckheaton 100% Bamboo and the pattern is from this Cleckheaton book. I made the second size (small - finished measurement 85cm).


This is a fairly easy knit but be warned it involves many, many rows of boring stocking stitch. The yarn is 4-ply weight and the needles used are 3.25mm. As the body and yoke are knit in one piece there are a lot of stitches too. This is definitely a project to work on while watching TV or DVDs. The Sopranos seasons 4, 5 and 6 got me a long way through this cardigan!

Normally I am not much of a blocker, I usually figure normal washing and gravity will take care of any 'quirks' of tension. Since I am trying to be better at doing things the right way I decided to block this by soaking it in lukewarm soapy water and patting it to shape on a towel and leaving it to dry.

Thank goodness I decided to do this as look what happened to the water the second I got the cardigan wet:

And this was the rinse water!

The cardigan has amazing drape and feels beautiful am I am really pleased with it. The only thing I would do differently would be to add some knitting-in elastic to the neckband - the fantastic drape comes with stretch and the neckline has grown a lot already. I'm not sure how I will deal with this.


The lace edging is only 7 rows at the beginning of the body and sleeves and it's really simple, as I said before getting bored is the only risk in this project. It is, however definitely worth persevering.


What I like most about this cardigan is that it means I can get away with wearing an ordinary tank top to work!