On the making of a cardigan I: yarn, needles and design
I'm making a cardigan and I'm documenting the process in a new series. I know what you're thinking... "Didn't she start a series on making a sweater that never went beyond the first post?" I know, I know. But this time is for real. Promise.
In this first post I'll discuss my design options and choices.
My cardigan started, as is often the case, as yarn. A while ago I'd bought quite a good amount of Rowan Thick 'n Thin yarn in order to make a sweater. This yarn has been discontinued, but hopefully I own enough that I'll be able to finish my project. This yarn, being of the thick and thin variety, is actually quite hard to design for. Choose the right stitch and design and you'll love the result, choose anything else and you'll get a non-descriptive ugly thing. The problem is with the bad stitch definition, as I'll discuss bellow.
Having chosen the yarn, I have a tentative size for my needles, the recommended one, which is 9mm. A swatch sample will tell me if I like the fabric I get with these or if I should change for either smaller ones (for a fabric with less "drape") or larger ones (for more drape).
I usually prefer to knit sweaters seamlessly, but while for pullovers you've the great advantage that knitting in the round allows to mostly knit (no purl stitches in stockinette), for cardigans this advantage is gone. There are quite a few advantages to seaming your garment:
I've knitted a few stitch samples in this yarn before the final swatch and here are my conclusions: (1) only very simple stitches with great definition look anything other than a fabric with random corrugated structure that is very unappealing. To give you an example, I wanted to try some less standard ribbing on the cuffs, but found out that most rib stitches don't look at all like rib in this yarn. So I've settled for a simple 2x2 ribbing (1x1 doesn't look that great either); therefore (2) lace and purl-knit patterns are out of the question; (3) a very simple cable works; (4) inverse stockinette stitch looks particularly good in thick and thin yarn.
Final decision: a casual, classic cardigan in 5-pieces plus a button band (done by picking up stitches from the front and back after seaming), with 2x2 ribbing, all-over reverse stockinette stitch except for two bands of 16 stitches horseshoe cable in front.
In this first post I'll discuss my design options and choices.
My cardigan started, as is often the case, as yarn. A while ago I'd bought quite a good amount of Rowan Thick 'n Thin yarn in order to make a sweater. This yarn has been discontinued, but hopefully I own enough that I'll be able to finish my project. This yarn, being of the thick and thin variety, is actually quite hard to design for. Choose the right stitch and design and you'll love the result, choose anything else and you'll get a non-descriptive ugly thing. The problem is with the bad stitch definition, as I'll discuss bellow.
Having chosen the yarn, I have a tentative size for my needles, the recommended one, which is 9mm. A swatch sample will tell me if I like the fabric I get with these or if I should change for either smaller ones (for a fabric with less "drape") or larger ones (for more drape).
I usually prefer to knit sweaters seamlessly, but while for pullovers you've the great advantage that knitting in the round allows to mostly knit (no purl stitches in stockinette), for cardigans this advantage is gone. There are quite a few advantages to seaming your garment:
- Seams provide a better finish. Knitted fabric often deforms with wear. Seams help preserve the structure of the garment, they provide a more professional looking finish and help making garments last longer.
- Small, flat pieces are a lot easier to block, which is important for cables and lace.
- Knitting a large piece in several parts is a lot more comfortable, since you don't have to carry a big project around when you're close to finish.
I've knitted a few stitch samples in this yarn before the final swatch and here are my conclusions: (1) only very simple stitches with great definition look anything other than a fabric with random corrugated structure that is very unappealing. To give you an example, I wanted to try some less standard ribbing on the cuffs, but found out that most rib stitches don't look at all like rib in this yarn. So I've settled for a simple 2x2 ribbing (1x1 doesn't look that great either); therefore (2) lace and purl-knit patterns are out of the question; (3) a very simple cable works; (4) inverse stockinette stitch looks particularly good in thick and thin yarn.
Final decision: a casual, classic cardigan in 5-pieces plus a button band (done by picking up stitches from the front and back after seaming), with 2x2 ribbing, all-over reverse stockinette stitch except for two bands of 16 stitches horseshoe cable in front.
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