Merlot cardigan

I had originally earmarked this yarn for a different project (photos five and six in this post), but having done a sample swatch of the stitch pattern decided that I'd prefer to use wool (this is an alpaca/silk blend) for that design idea.  It hasn't left the starting blocks yet, but I'm hoping I'll get it knitted next year.

So... I decided to knit this up in a simple design, which is all stocking stitch, and added stripes to the ribbing.  It didn't take long to knit and is very soft and warm.  The buttons I'd originally planned to use, which looked fine when the yarn was skeined, didn't really 'go' once it was knitted, so I had a root around my button stash for some different ones - in the end I went with the ones on the left.

And here's the finished item