Helen's Closet Blackwood cardigan review

 I realised this would be a great match for my interesting sweater knit from The Fabric Store. I bought a lot of it and it's taking up a lot of space, because actually I'm not really sure what to do with it.  I wanted something simple and cozy.  Winter in New Zealand is cold indoors (even when outside is lovely) because this country was late to discover insulation and still hasn't discovered central heating.  

I was debating between this and the Driftless cardi by Grainline.  There are more blogs about the other one, I suppose because the pockets give people more to talk about.  I thought for my thick fabric this pattern was a better choice.  There aren't that many blogs...because there's not much to say.  It's a really easy pattern.

Sadly in this case this pattern did not take up heaps of fabric! I made size 6, and I have about 1.5 m left (out of 3 m) after cutting this out.  It was straightforward.  I paid good attention on the pockets, and whipped it all together on my overlocker.  

 

 I think others have noted that this cardi is meant to hang open without the fronts coming close to each other.  I could put a button right about at waist height if I wanted a way to get it to stay secured there - it does come all the way around at waist level, but not higher or lower.  There are maybe 6 cm of space at the chest, slightly less at the hips.  As long as you want an open cardi I can recommend this. The sleeves are relatively narrow but not too much, I have big muscles and would struggle to wear long sleeves under this, but with tank tops it's great.  Though itchy.