Green, Tea Leaves

I'm happy to announce that my Tea Leaves Cardigan, at one point so close to the discard bin, is now finished and blocking.



I did end up with 3/4 length sleeves but found that I preferred them, so all is well. For those of you not familiar with this pattern, the Tea Leaves Cardigan was designed by Melissa LaBarre for Madelinetosh yarns. It's simple and fun to knit and, best of all, knit from the top down.
This is not the first time I've knit one of Melissa's patterns. Last summer I made her Leaf Tee...twice.



The green version I wrote about here, but the blue one which I knit in the exact same yarn, I never mentioned. Not because I didn't love it. I did. I've worn both versions numerous times. I didn't talk about Leaf Tee, version 2.0 because I made it right after the first one. I was so enamored of the pattern that when I finished the first tee, I immediately wanted to make another one. As this was summer in Texas, having a second cotton/bamboo short sleeved tee was very useful, but taking and posting pictures of the same top only a few weeks after the first seemed silly.
It is, however, not quite as silly as what I'm planning to do post my current Melissa knit.



I'm going to knit another one. I will have to delay the start by a few weeks as I've already promised and purchased yarn for a summer tank for my youngest, but I'm still planning a second Tea Leaves. This is a testament to how much I love this pattern and the process of knitting it. Both because I'm prepared to repeat something I've just done and because this is Texas and by the first of March I'll be hard pressed to find many days where the temperature will be conducive to wearing wool cardigans. If all goes according to my plan, I'll be knitting my Green Tea Leaves while mopping sweat off my brow. Good times, huh?
While I wait for my first Tea Leaves version to dry, I'm auditioning buttons for the cardigan.




Maybe I'll save the Frank Sinatra buttons for my Green Tea Leaves.