Charity shop wool

I bought this wool whilst in Exeter for Frances' wedding, it was £1 a ball so I bought 7 for £6 (the guy gave me the last ball free since I didn't have enough money in my wallet!). Vicky bought 4 balls as well so I'm excited to see what she makes of it!

I decided I wanted a warm cardigan that I could throw on over whatever I was wearing at the time, I used to have an amazing bright red Gap wool cardigan that I bought from Vicky but my Mum shrunk it in the wash and I've missed it ever since. I still want to make something thinner and less chunky but for my second attempt at knitting clothing, I wanted something simple I could take away on placement with me. I chose the Cozy Bolero pattern from Ravelry and it was perfect. It took me 2 attempts (the first version came out a bit small so is off to the car boot sale unless anyone reading this who is a size 8 with slim arms (Vicky?) would like to have it) but it was definitely worth persevering, I wear the finished product all the time now. I tend to just throw it on over a t-shirt when I'm cold in the house but I'm excited to wear it out when uni starts again in September, it's a bit warm for it at the moment.

Another thing I like about it is that it's got no fastening, so it gives me an opportunity to use some of the belts and brooches that I never get round to wearing. You could obviously modify the pattern to include button holes but I chose not to. Instead I made the sleeves full length instead of 3/4 and made the back long enough to come to my waist, rather than stopping mid-back as the pattern specifies. I reckon it would make a lovely wedding or evening bolero though if you followed the pattern and used a fancy wool.

With my electric blue thrifted vintage belt:


With my vintage RAF belt:


With one of my Gran's brooches:


Apologies for the mildly pretentious 'staring off into the middle distance' photos, Andrew took 25 photos of me in various poses and I looked a complete moron in every position but this one.