Darts
I've just finished my first cardigan. It is a slightly adapted version of the very popular pattern Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane. I've changed the number of stitches in order to be able to close it all the way in front with extra buttons and buttonholes. A more traditional look and a warmer option, don't forget I live in the north of England. I've also used two colours instead of a single one. I'm really happy with the results.
This is not only my first cardigan, it is also the first time I've used waist shaping and I'm really impressed with the result. I'm quite flat at the waist, so I naively thought that the waist shaping would look bad on me. It is quite the contrary, the flatter you are the more important the shaping is. The whole idea is to fool the eye, not to reproduce your shape.
After I finished this project, I got an email from Rowan advertising their Options knit-along. This is a cardigan/sweater pattern by Amy Herzog. The videos, with excellent advice on sweater construction, are well worth seeing. She totally convinced me that darts are a much better way to shape the waist than increases/decreases on the sides (which I used in the Shalom cardigan). Her arguments are that darts more closely follow the 3D dimensions of the body and hence look better, and also that darts allow you to use different shapes in front and back. She gives a couple of reasons to do the latter: if you're using a lace or cable pattern only in the front or the back and you don't want to ruin the effect, do all the shaping on the other side; if you want a relaxed-but-not-too-boxy look, do a straight front and a shaped back.
This is not only my first cardigan, it is also the first time I've used waist shaping and I'm really impressed with the result. I'm quite flat at the waist, so I naively thought that the waist shaping would look bad on me. It is quite the contrary, the flatter you are the more important the shaping is. The whole idea is to fool the eye, not to reproduce your shape.
After I finished this project, I got an email from Rowan advertising their Options knit-along. This is a cardigan/sweater pattern by Amy Herzog. The videos, with excellent advice on sweater construction, are well worth seeing. She totally convinced me that darts are a much better way to shape the waist than increases/decreases on the sides (which I used in the Shalom cardigan). Her arguments are that darts more closely follow the 3D dimensions of the body and hence look better, and also that darts allow you to use different shapes in front and back. She gives a couple of reasons to do the latter: if you're using a lace or cable pattern only in the front or the back and you don't want to ruin the effect, do all the shaping on the other side; if you want a relaxed-but-not-too-boxy look, do a straight front and a shaped back.
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