i don't really know what else to say except, "wow. i actually finished a long-sleeved, adult-sized cardigan." i mean it. wow. thanks to Hilary and Erica for keeping me from frogging it when i was most frustrated with knitting the sleeves.
waiting outside for adam; it was really too warm to wear it, but that didn't stop me!
Pattern Tangled yoke cardigan, by Eunny Jang.
Source Interweave Knits Fall 2007.
Yarn Valley Yarns English Tweed, softgrape.
Needles US 2 (2.75 mm), US 3 (3.25 mm), US 4 (3.5 mm), and US 5 (3.75 mm).
Modifications knitted a higher collar, giving the garment more of a ski-jacket look. because of the higher collar, i added 2 more buttons.
the pattern
i thought that knitting the body and sleeves of the cardigan would be the easy part. i mean, stockinette and garter ridge? piece of cake. but omfg—those took forever simply because they were so boring and mindless. and let's not forget my aversion to sleeve-knitting and the fact that i tried to knit both at the same time. do not recommend.
and really, i dreaded starting the cabled yoke; if there was a part of the cardigan that would stall progress, i figured it had to be this. but no, as it turned out, that's when my knitting really flew. i loved knitting it.
i couldn't wait to see how it looked with buttons, so i just placed them and snapped a picture.
gauge drama
note to self: it doesn't help to knit a gauge swatch if you're just going to ignore your measured gauge.
do i need to say more? well. okay, if you insist.
i knitted the gauge swatch for this almost exactly 1 year ago and noted somewhere that, instead of 9 row/in, i had about 7.25 rows/in. well, when i actually started the project back in April, i distinctly remember pulling the swatch out and thinking, "Oh hey! I swatched it, so it must be okay. Yay! Cast-on party!" (maybe not those exact words.)
as far as i'm concerned, the longer body and sleeves is a plus (though it really adds to the overall jacket look and fit). things got a little tricky after i joined the sleeves to the body and had to knit those 3 inches of stockinette stitch before starting the tangled yoke pattern. and then afterwards as well when i knitted the shoulder drop. i'm still convinced the shoulder drop could be a little longer, especially since i knitted the collar so much higher. but, in the end, things worked out.
it folds up nicely!
higher collar
i imagined myself wearing this very frequently during the San Francisco winter. and because of that, i always intended to knit it with a higher collar. i have to admit though, that i had no idea it would change the look and feel of the cardigan so much... i wasn't quite sure at first, but now i *heart* it very much.
so what did i do for the collar? nothing different except for the amount of rows and the size of needles: i knitted about three inches (in the garter rib) using the US 4 needles and then about 2.75 inches with US 3 needles. i bound off as directed.
originally, i thought i wouldn't bother folding the collar in; i was afraid that would be too bulky around my neck. but, the binding off of the collar's end with the collar's beginning really shapes the neckline of the cardigan. without that detail, well, it would have looked weird.
the yarn
after reading back over my first impressions of the yarn, they haven't changed. i'm still torn between love for the tweedy flecks and annoyance that there are so many colors. but, after just one soaking, the yarn really softens a great deal. it's still a little rough against my skin, but, i doubt i'll wear it with just a tshirt in the winter.
and, well, i have at least 600 yards of it left; perhaps i'll knit matching hat and mitts!
happiness ^_^
