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| Kathy O'Neill models her Spoked Cardigan from the 2011 issue of Interweave Knits Weekend. |
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My knitting group went to a function at our local yarn shop and my friend Kathy showed up in the most beautiful cardigan sweater. I recognized it but I couldn't put my finger on where I'd seen it. I asked Kathy about it and she laughed and said it was the cover sweater from
Interweave Knits Weekend 2011. No wonder it looked familiar!
The design is the Spoked Cardigan by Carol Feller, and it's one of the cutest
cardigan knitting patterns ever. And it's a pretty easy knit, too!
I invited Kathy here to tell us about knitting her version. Here she is!
The Spoked
Cardigan from Interweave Knits Weekend 2011
At first I pretty much ignored this pattern as the colors were about as far
from "my" colors as they could get! I also thought "this is for a 20-something
girl and I'm a 50-something, but still a girl at heart." And it was
overshadowed by a couple of the other sweaters in
Weekend that I loved.
But the Spoked Cardigan somehow got stuck in the back of my mind. I love the
Noro "Kureyon" worsted-weight yarn and the wonderful color schemes they come up
with. Somehow I got to the Noro section on a recent trip to the yarn shop and I
ended up going though every color combination they had in the right quantity
for the Spoked Cardigan. I found a lovely red-blue-fuchsia-gray combo that was
just perfect.
I got the right gauge with a size 9 needle instead of the 8 that was called for
in the pattern. I'm really an up-"tight" knitter so I do need a larger needle
at times.
I really just went straight by the pattern, which ended up true to size (I made the 38" bust size). The
model in the magazine must be several inches taller than I am because the
sweater looked a bit short on her for my taste. I didn't end up lengthening it
at all, though-I'm trying to get out of my rut of making and wearing only long
sweaters. Turned out on me it's a comfortable length, but not way below the
belly.
I did leave out all of the tabs. I thought the sleeve tabs might look better if
they faced towards the outside of the arm instead of the inside, which that
would have been any easy modification to make, but I decided to leave them off.
I didn't need any additional bumps on my hips so left out the hip tabs, too.
I did have to get a bit of advice from my knitting pals to fully understand the
chart. I've mostly worked with charts that show only the odd rows, or only the
even rows, but not both, so this chart took some getting used to. It really
went fast when I got going, though, especially after I had the short-row
process perfected. I actually finished it faster than any other sweater I've
knit. The lack of finishing work it required was a bonus-yippie--I do dread the
finishing work!
I thought the yarn might be a bit scratchy at first, but it's a lovely garment
to wear and the sweater is really nice and soft, especially post blocking. I've
gotten lots of compliments on it and I'm even thinking of making it again in
Noro Silk Garden using a subtle color palette.
Happy knitting,
Kathy
P.S. Want to knit the Spoked Cardigan?
The 2011 issue of Interweave Knits Weekend is on sale now!