Happy April, my friend.
It’s been quite a month, hasn’t it. I’m not a fan of April fools so there will be none of that here. On the bright side my kids know where they will be going to school this Fall (whoohoo), and I finished my striped cardigan from the last issue without too many problems.
When last we spoke I was working on the raglan and v-neck shaping for the yoke - always a fun part. As I got near the collar, it became clear that I didn’t have quite enough of the stripe yarn left. Guess I’m good at estimating yarn quantities but not totally great. Not to worry, though, I ended up doing a single row of contrasting color for two stripe sequences, and it’s not particularly noticeable.
After all the shaping ate up my sleeve and front stitches, I dove right into the collar and button band pick up without breaking the yarn. Instead I worked a few decreases across the back of the neck (it felt a little wide), then picked up three stitches for every four rows and knit down one front, turned and established the two-by-two rib up the front and across the back, then did the same pickup for the other front. So seamless!
With the ribbing established, I had a few rows to decide on my buttonholes. I ended up with seven, which looks good but was a little annoying when it came to my button jar. Since this is meant to be my new everyday (literally) cardigan, I decided it was fine, finished the ribbing and bound off in pattern.
There were cuffs to seam, underarms to graft, buttons to attach, and ends to weave in. I’m very happy with the cozy finished product. The only thing I might have changed was tossing in a little waist shaping because it’s kinda boxy.
Want to see?
As you can see, I’m pretty happy with this sweater. And you can see that I’m starting another one, this time with some Harrisville Shetland which gets a similar gauge for a more open fabric. I think it will work because this yarn is pretty sturdy.
For the curious I ended up with a 14g swatch and a 10g ball of the main color leftover. Talk about cutting it close!
That’s it for me today. I’m off to keep myself busy until that Harrisville sleeve has dried. Until next time …
Happy knitting! xxoo, Kathleen
P.S. Raglan cardigan designs of mine include Solstice Cardi, Marianne, Winter Bride, and more. The code “substack” (no quotes) will get you 25% off all patterns in both my shops.