FO: Mini Manu

This wee cardi for Miss M really all started with the buttons.  I popped into HRYC when I heard they had a new shipment of Buttons by Benji in some time ago, especially excited because I had heard rumours of penguin buttons.  I soon found these rumours were in fact based on truth and nabbed myself a set of gorgeous buttons for my "pengin" mad wee girl.  Next job was to find the perfect yarn and what do you know it was sitting right there in my stash staring at me.  Who would have thought that possible?  Out came the Red Riding Hood Yarns 8ply in 'Alice' and the match was done. 
The final hurdle was finding the pattern and after much searching of ravelry I decided on Mini Manu by Kate Davies.  This is where things began to come unstuck a bit.  Firstly the pattern is written for a light DK and the 'fabric' my yarn knitted up into was a lot denser than that really needed for the pattern.  Of course I forged on though assuring myself it would be fine.  Also it appears I am unable to read, which is bound to cause problems.  I realised when I had basically finished the cardigan that what I had read as body measurements were actually the finished measurements of the cardigan, bummer!  This meant that after a lot of hard work, and for a small cardy this one is a lot of work, I ended up with something that fits Miss M - JUST!  It is perfect just now and I am willing her not to grow until spring, hehehe.
So here is Miss M's Mini Manu.

Here are the penguin buttons.

There are a couple of really nice features on this cardy, the pleats at the neckline and the fact that the entire border is finished with an applies icord, it is a bit of work (and a pain keeping all the stitches live as you go) but really worth it for the lovely finish it gives.

The only major alteration I made to the pattern was that the pattern called for all the pleats aroudn the neck to go in one direction but I decided to reverse them from half way so they were mirrored on the front.  If I knit this again in a year or two (when I've forgotten how fiddly it was) I would reverse the pleats so they point towards the centre front.  I will also do the short rows using a different method because even after blocking they are still pretty obvious and that irritates me.

And last but not least a pic on the girl herself.

Little Miss Cheeky trying to tell me what to do while taking her photo.

So on the whole I love this but have learnt a couple of important lessons, choose your yarn carefully to match the pattern (don't be blinded by the image you have in your head of the FO) and learn to read a pattern properly when choosing sizes!