Ruthless Knitting

Pattern: My own
Size: 34" bust, 42" at bottom hem, 18" total length, 7.5" sleeves
Yarn: Habu Wool Roving A-81 1/6 (100 percent undyed wool; 186 yds per oz)
Yardage: About 2,000 yards, held double
Sources: KPixie; Purl Soho 
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 6 (4.00 mm) Knit Picks Harmony circular needles
Gauge: 26 sts and 40 rows = 4″ in stockinette
Notes: The buttons came first on this project, and the pattern followed. This direction of development is fitting for the first finished sweater in the new Button Collection. My father created these glass buttons for me as a Christmas gift, and I came up with the design in the hope of showcasing them properly. I was going for a garment with a plain, clean look to it, vaguely Japanese-influenced, but not boring. I think I hit the mark.

The Kinari cardigan was knit from the top down and hemmed along the button bands and collar at the finishing stage. I did run into a few problems en route. The most significant one was the result of a combination of yarn trouble and planning miscalculations. I initially bought 8.5 ounces of Habu Wool Roving from KPixie, but once I cast on I realized it wouldn’t be enough. I found what seemed to be the same yarn for sale on Purl’s website, so I snapped it up. Unfortunately, it was not the same thickness. I wonder if what I got (which, oddly, lacked any label) was actually Wool Roving A-80 1/3 rather than Wool Roving A-81 1/6. The latter is supposed to be exactly twice as thick as the former, which seems to fit the case, as one strand of the yarn that Purl sent ended up being a perfect substitute for two strands of the yarn from KPixie.

I didn’t figure this out for a good long while, and in the meantime I knit the patterned portion of the body using a strand of each of the two different yarns without going up a needle size, which made a rather stiff fabric. I also continued to increase at the same rate from the armpits to the bottom hem. The outcome was, sadly, both too wide and too stiff. I had made a triangle sweater. I cut it the edging off and tried again with a single strand of the heavier yarn and slightly larger needles, and this attempt worked out much better.

In addition, I had a small problem with the collar, in that I didn’t intend for it to look like it does. What I had sketched was a true boatneck, but I cast on too few stitches for the neckline and then compounded the problem by decreasing rather than increasing stitches on the neckline hem, which made the collar stand up rather than lie down flat. The good news is that I like it just the way it is, so I am considering it a happy accident rather than evidence of how much I have to learn about collars.

I am particularly pleased with the aptness of the button closures, which gave me a bit of a panic when the time came to make them and I realized that I simply had no idea what I was doing and no sewing or embroidery experience to draw on. As I mentioned in my last post, I owe the basic technique to Ysolda, who uses it to beautiful effect in her Coraline sweater (about to be released for sale; link goes to Ravelry), and who provides a great tutorial on her website for free. I modified the technique so that rather than making half-moon button closures, I made lollipop-shaped closures by partially sewing the two sides together at the attachment point. Though the closures were quite twisty when they came off the needles, they settled down when blocked, so that the sweater can now be worn entirely buttoned, entirely unbuttoned, or partially buttoned.

I am thankful, too, to Lorna’s Laces for making a red sock yarn that doesn’t bleed a bit, even in hot water. I tested it. Without Lorna’s, you’d be looking at a sweater with white button closures. I’m glad that you’re not.

In the end, this sweater came out uncannily close to my sketch. When David told me in response to this observation that I seem to be getting better at knitting things exactly how I want them, I said that may be true, but I also got lucky. Whatever the reason, I am proud of how well this design highlights the buttons, how simple it looks, and how striking it is.

Now I just have to find something to wear with it. It’s still far too cold here for elbow-length sleeves and skirts.

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Other posts about the Kinari cardigan:

• In which I begin
• In which I announce my plans and show off the buttons
• In which I wax eloquent about the uncertainties of knitwear design
• In which I have to reknit the body
• In which I make progress but am still not finished
• In which I show off a button closure

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 7:25 pm and is filed under Button Collection, Design, Finished Objects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.