Andes Cardigan

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I've been working for several months on Kaffe Fassett's Andes Cardigan pattern from Rowan Magazine No 74. A month or so in I renamed it Andes Coatigan, because it really stretched the cardigan notion , in my view, well beyond its limits. It's going to be a really useful and striking garment - but not my idea of a cardigan! 

Before I started, I realised I would need a large receptacle to hold the wool. There are 10 colours in the pattern and they change frequently, so the receptacle needed to hold about 16 balls. I visited a couple of Op Shops near my Pilates Studio and found this large open basket, made of faux (ie plastic) cane. I needed to do a bit of repair work, but it is has proved to be exactly what I needed. It sits beside my chair and holds the wool, the pattern book and several needle sets with tools.

I used my ebony needles. I found the first sets of these at the Crafty Frog in Canberra - while spending a gift voucher in January. I loved them so much I searched the company out and bought two set of their scarce needles. They have proved their worth on this project alone.

The pattern has a 20 row x 20 stitch design repeat, but an 80 row colour repeat with three colours per row - so the knitter gets neither bored nor complacent. Usefully, once you've knitted 80 rows you can refer to the piece on the needles to keep the colour going.

My grizzle is that two of the brown colours (one marked with a blue V and one with red in the left photo) are difficult to distinguish.

It is just possible in daylight, but I had to leave the label on one of them to be sure. Would it make a difference if I got it wrong? Not sure.

A couple of other colours are close, like this orange and the ginger next to it,  but the browns are verging on impossible.

The body is both wide and long; very much an outer garment. I'm glad I started with the back, the largest piece.

Mostly it has been about keeping on. I found it enjoyable, even though I undid more stitches than usual in the process. There is a rhythm, but not one with which you can afford to lose focus. While the diamond shapes are always 5 stitches wide, their centres work on a 1-3-5-7-9 rotation. It is easy to find you have lapsed into the 5-5-5-5 default, especially towards the end of a row.  

It has raglan sleeves, so it was a boost on the long, wide back to reach the underarm and speed up as the rows decreased. 

The fronts were a little trickier, but equally satisfying, with a slight decrease for the v neck and more for the armholes.

I was a bit tempted at this point, to stitch the sides together and begin on the front edging, to see what it was like, but I resisted  and moved to the sleeves.

About half way up the first sleeve I got nervous and checked my measurements. It seemed a bit skinny. I don't have the recipient nearby to try it on. My measurements were correct, so I kept going, but began to formulate a plan for an insert if my fears were realised, which they were when I tried it on my obliging Adelaide daughter. 

My solution was to insert a panel in black on the underarm of each sleeve. It blends with the black trim and eases the sleeves.

The assembled garment was about 95cm in length.

I picked up 456 stitches around the edges to knit the front border. This was short of the number in the instructions, but was every edging stitch. My longest connector was just long enough.

The border is 5cm wide.

I was tempted to add buttons, and did build in button holes, which I eventually stitched together carefully. I think I could restore them if required. These are the wooden buttons I tried out.

At this point I realised that the top of the sleeves, across the shoulders was probably going to be too tight. It is hard when you can't try it on the recipient, but I was pretty sure.

 The Fair Isle method of carrying the colours across the back of the work, even when done loosely, restricts the stretch. 

To be sure, I undid the underarm join, knitted and inserted gussets.

The finished garment has made its way to the recipient interstate, and was well received. I am knitting pockets which will be added and the button question is open.

I have really enjoyed this project. It's had its challenges. Only after I finished did I notice the instruction to use the intarsia technique, not the Fair Isle. I'm glad I didn't register that. I can't imagine how many tiny balls of wool I'd have had to roll, and how much stitching in of ends there would have been.  Nevertheless I need to read more carefully.

Now for pockets and then something a  bit smaller.