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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Altered Jewel cardigan - finished

Another gray sweater...
This one took a month to finish because knitting the first sleeve in one day proved to be too much for my left hand, which resulted in a two-week break from hand-knitting. The cardigan was actually completely finished and ready to wear yesterday but the gray skies outside were not conducive to taking decent pictures.



I really liked my Jewel cardigan so I used the same pattern, with only a few changes.
  1. the original Jewel cardigan requires a camisole, this cardigan has a longer button band to cover the bits that need coverage - this required recalculating the neckline decreases as well as buttonhole spacing;
  2. I added a shawl collar - this was simple: instead of decreasing the total number of stitches at the neckline, for each decrease in stockinette I added one stitch to the front band that would become the collar;
  3. full-length sleeves instead of bracelet length;
  4. I wanted the back more fitted at the waist - I decreased the peplum by eight stitches where back darts would usually be and then recalculated the side increases to add the eight stitches back.
Side view:


The yarn is sport-weight Nature Spun by Brown Sheep. I just love this yarn - it's so easy to knit, blocks beautifully, and it feels soft and warm on the skin. I have a few more cones of it in this color and a lighter gray so you'll be seeing it again :-)

Back view:


I am very happy with how this sweater turned out. I'm thinking about making it in multiple colors. One additional change I would make on future cardigans is move the buttonholes in by a stitch or two. I think it would be prettier to have more of the edge showing.

7 comments:

gwensews said...

That's a beautiful sweater. I would love to be able to knit so professionally.

wendy said...

Beautiful! I really like the textured border stitch :)

Sandy said...

This sweater is gorgeous. I'm trying to teach myself to knit, and you've just provided me with an amazing inspiration.

KarenP said...

That is absolutely gorgeous! Like Sandy, I am also a fledgling knitter...this gives me something to aspire to.

Jemajo said...

Masterful knitting - is this by hand or on the machine? I have this pattern book and just skipped past it, but seeing yours I may have to take another look! :D

Gabriele said...

What a gorgeous sweater, congratulations on a really wonderful job! If you are still in Germany, you might want to find a yarn shop that carries Lana Grossa yarns. My absolute favorite is Merino superfein which comes in a really large array of yummy colours, and it knits like a dream. In your hands, the sky is the limit with that yarn

Tany said...

Fantastic work, I really love this sweater; It's very elegant

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