Cardigan FO and a new WIP

I finished the baby cardigan last night! I'm quite proud of this and think it came out quite well, I hope my cousin is pleased with it.

Here is the cardigan all knit and ready to sew up (note change to plain white yarn on the collar...oops!)

And here it is sewn up, buttons on, ends woven in and ready to go! I love the little duck buttons, I'm such a sucker for a cute button. In my little button stash I have more white ducks, some little red ducks, some mint green teddy bears and some darker blue teddy bears. So cute! I have some little pale blue elephants somewhere but they're not in my button tin so who knows where they've gotten to. I may have to get some more when I get paid and expand my cute button stash! I have one of these tins from Cath Kidston (now in the sale excitingly!) but it is quite empty so I need to buy lots more buttons to fill it up.

After finishing the cardigan I cast on for the first of my Christmas projects, a lace scarf for my husband's mum. I'm using the Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf pattern (Ravelry link) from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. It's a fantastic book with lots of beautiful lace shawl and scarf patterns and a stitch library with advice on how to design your own shawl. I must admit I will not be knitting the nupps in this pattern, I don't think MiL would like them and they use so much yarn so I shall save my yarn, I don't think it will spoil the pattern to miss them out. The scarf is knit in two pieces, the bottom edge and body of the scarf is knit before knitting the top edge and grafting the pieces together so the top and bottom edge match. I decided to knit the top edge first and save that on a spare needle (got to love interchangeable needles, I just took the tips off and put the little holders on to stop it slipping off the cable!) until I've knit the rest. This way I can decide how much yarn to use before I graft the pieces together and I wont run out.

In non knitting news there was a beautiful butterfly in our garden today, I'm not necessarily a bit butterfly fan (they're pretty creepy looking close up!) but the colours on this one were just beautiful! A look on-line (because I know nothing about butterflies) told me it's a peacock butterfly. I managed to get a picture with my camera phone before it flew away.

I have been told off by my husband for starting his mother's present before finishing his socks so I'd better get those cast on and knit soon for him!