Asymmetrical Cardigan - phase one complete
The knitting this week has been, in a word, frustrating. Behold the completed body of the Asymmetrical Cardigan. I brilliantly knit the back of the cardigan three times. Three! I was happily knitting along at the Stitch+Bitch last week when I suddenly decided to frog the back of the sweater. I thought that my measurements were off for the back (the front has a 2 inch buttonband, so I thought the back should be wider to account for that, yadda yadda). THEN I measured the sweater. The back was not the wrong size. When I restarted it, I mistakenly began the waist shaping in the wrong spot, so I had to frog again.
I finally figured things out, and here we are. All that remains is the deep sleeve cuffs and the collar/buttonband piece. Silver thinks that the fabric is perfect to knead her claws into.
Once seamed, the sweater doesn’t look terribly different than before, but there’s double the fabric now. I did my own thing when the pattern called to cast on and bind off for the tops and bottoms of the sleeves - I left those stitches as live stitches so that I could do a three-needle bind-off for the sleeve seam. I think that turned out much neater than me trying to mattress stitch the seam together. Also, I seamed the sweater with a thinner yarn - Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. Not the strongest stuff around, but the color was a near-perfect match.
I tried it on, and I think that it’s going to be a touch small, even after all of my measuring and frogging. It’s a bit hard to tell without the buttonband, but hopefully I can block things out to kelly size!
I can already tell how fabulously the Malabrigo is going to stand up to wear:
The left half is the back ribbing, and the right side is the front ribbing. I started the sweater with the front ribbing, and just finished up the back ribbing last night. You can tell that the right side is already getting fuzzy and the stitch definition is blurred. I better warm up my sweater shaver for this one. Also, you can see how the back is shifted by half a vertical pattern repeat from the front. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if I was knitting in with the heavier-weight yarn called for by the pattern, but hopefully it’s not too noticeable when worn.
Here’s another Norah Gaughan design, from the new Vogue Knitting magazine. Beautiful! I adore the cables and pentagons and modular construction, and would love to make a longer version without the crazy collar. Kate at Knit Lit has started one of these, and I’ll be eagerly watching to see how hers comes out.
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what a neat way to construct a sweater! I love the pattern, and with a little shaving from time to time, I’m sure it will stay looking great! I’ll have to pull out my book to see what the finished one looks like.
I love that cardi thing in VK also. Maybe just ribbing at the body like the sleeves and make it a full cardi….
Oh - I feel your pain with the frogging. I’ve been on a bit of a frogging binge myself, but it has only been for little things, a few rows back. Not half a sweater!
But good on you! You made a lot of changes to the pattern, and your math is all coming out correctly now! The Malabrigo should block out to anything you ask once it’s wet. There is a little give to that stitch pattern, too…isn’t there?
It looks lovely. Congrats on not losing your patience.
So you wouldn’t have had to rip after all? That sucks. Looks great though! Hopefully this cold weather sticks around long enough for you to wear it. :)
I don’t think the 1/2 repeat difference will be noticeable. I didn’t notice it until you pointed it out and then I still had to hunt for the difference. It will be fine.
As for that VK pattern: the construction is intriguing, but it looks like football shoulder pads to me.
This is why the anal-retentive must take a long vacation :) The sweater looks fab.
Sorry to hear about the thrice-frogged back piece, but the sweater is going to look awesome.
That VK shrug thingie is beautiful - I may just have to make it, maybe with long sleeves.
I love that new Norah Gaughan design. I’ll have to hop over to Knit Lit to check hers out.
that cardigan looks like it’s going to be fabulous. I love that new NG design too!
Well your hard work (and the painful frogging) seems to have paid off!