About Needle Size / Gauge: I started this project using a US4 but felt the fabric was too open. Ripped back and restarted with a US3 and my pre-blocked gauge on this needle size is 23st and 35R in 4”. Fortunately, my armsyce is short so I don’t think it would have had an overly large impact on the fit of the armscye, though I could have knitted extra length once I finished the rib-to-stockinette pattern, as necessary.

About the Pattern: Definitely, this pattern loses something in translation. Otherwise it was not clearly written in its language of origin. I wouldn’t say that it’s terrible, but for a new knitter, who’s not used to knitting intermediate projects from scaled-back European patterns, it may seem unclear. Moreover, in addition to providing no information about proposed vertical measurements, this pattern does NOT come with a schematic which, given the complexity of the design - and the fact that it’s not free - is irritating to me. I own another pattern by this designer which also lacks a schematic, leading me to wonder if they are included in any of her patterns. As such, whether I love this cardigan or not, it’s unlikely that I’ll buy a pattern from this designer again. A schematic is baseline as far as I’m concerned.

Final Thoughts:

• I cannot recommend this pattern but the design is fantastic. If you really want the finished garment and you are a comfortable sweater knitter (with prior experience of HFR/half brioche) - and someone who’s comfortable working with minimal information that isn’t terribly clearly positioned - then you may want to give it a go.

• The shaping of this garment is just so elegant and chic. And what a genius way to shape the bodice while also accounting for circumference requirements without requiring increases or decreases (once the back and fronts are joined}. This is to say nothing of the beautiful fabric produced by the geometric/diagonal usage of rib flowing into half brioche. Also flattering on multiple body shapes. I prefer this fabric in a slightly smaller gauge than instructed.

• On the topic of the stitch, which the designer refers to as half fisherman’s rib (HFR): I am in no way an expert on HFR or half brioche but this pattern uses the method I have thus far associated with brioche (yarn over on the elongated knit stitch) vs that which I associate with HFR (knitting into the stitch below). I prefer the fabric that brioche produces.

• If you are not tall and you don’t want a longish cardigan (16.3” from underarm, as instructed) then you’ll either have to increase the rate of going from rib to brioche OR use diff needle size OR have rib st left at the end (on back body or on both front and back body). This wasn’t an issue for me because I’m not into cropped designs and my boobs eat up a certain amount of bodice length, but depending on your body shape, this pattern may not be optimal from a length perspective. Caveat: When knitting this, I went down a needle size because I wanted a firmer fabric, but that changed my row gauge, which is smaller than that instructed - something that worked to my advantage. I also note that the yarn used by the designer does grow rather dramatically (according to the pattern), so that might be problematic for some.

• In the last 4 rows, once there were no more front rib stitches, I turned 2 back rib stitches (one on each of the rib sides of the marker) into brioche stitches on the same row. This is because I started feeling concerned I’d run out of yarn before they were all turned into brioche when working one stitch per row. Also, it was long enough for me. Update - I think this is actually longer than I’d optimally prefer at 5’3”, esp as the fabric has far less recovery and more drape than I expect from a merino.

• Though my gauge was smaller than instructed, brioche and rib are very stretchy and I was concerned about the shoulders being too wide. Update: they are just a tiny bit too wide for me given that I prefer perfection in shoulder fit, but this will fit my sister perfectly.. Both of these stitch patterns EAT yarn. While I thought I could get away with 300g of LIGHT sport-weight yarn, in the end I used almost the entirety of 350g. That’s a heavier garment than I generally prefer but it is a very wearable silhouette and sometimes it’s nice to have more coverage over the hips, esp when cold outside. Also, it’s terrific to have used up every bit of the yarn.

• While I have knit many a fine-gauge sweater (including lace-weight), this one truly felt like the slog that everyone accuses fine-gauge sweaters of feeling like. It was SO tedious - and that was after I got through the stressful parts. Moreover, 1x1 rib is hard on the hands after a certain point, and 75% of the knitting is rib. Even if I love this, I couldn’t see myself knitting it again. If I did, however, I’d make it in black. (Lord, that would make it a next-level slog.)

• I am disappointed in the yarn (which doesn’t feel at all like merino). The colour is beautiful and I don’t get the impression that it’s low-quality. But it knitted up unevenly and it blocked unevenly (esp a portion of pre-blocked yarn I used when I unraveled the swatch). (Note: I soaked the finished cardigan in warm water for at least 45 min. (and likely much longer). So it’s not like the water didn’t have an opp to fully penetrate the yarn.) What I will say is that this yarn would be in its sweet spot in a shawl and knitted in stockinette at a tighter gauge. It’s a very slim sport weight (it worked up like fingering-weight). Stockinette is probably it’s sweet spot and a lot of the garment is in rib and brioche. Both of those are very stretchy and this yarn has mediocre recovery.

• If I were to make this again I’d use a more robust yarn (with good drape) and I’d knit the portion up to the armscye (or at least the part with stockinette) in a smaller needle to make the fit snugger in the shoulders.

Knitting Notes:

• Very unlike me, I’ve decided to knit this with few to no alterations/mods. It will likely work well for my sister.

• In size 2, the final short row to be picked up is situated one stitch before the end of the row. You have to work it into the border pattern when you do the final pick up.

• On the front body, there are 5 stitches between the neck border and the rib on each side, when you join the back to the fronts (at the depth of the armscye). The pattern does indicate that: “In both parts of the front, an increase in each WS row (starting from the armhole to the front neckline) changes from stockinette stitch to ribbing. This change goes beyond the armhole and is finished in the first rows of the body.”

• I’ve knitted 4 more rows on fronts and back (in pattern / no further increases or moving of markers) because my vertical gauge is smaller than the pattern recommends (since I’ve gone down to a US3 needle, even more so). Remember this when working the sleeves (60R not 56R).

• Body: The segue to HFR after joining under the arms is very confusingly presented. I spent 2 hours trying to figure this out. This pattern is neither intuitive nor are there any explanation videos. And the terminology used to describe HFR is not what I’ve seen elsewhere. Really unpleasant experience. After further consideration, it would appear that the instructions look more akin to half brioche than HFR.

• For R2 / R3 repeats: In the end I just worked “in pattern” in the HFR section: WS work the yfsl1yo (called “1yo, sl1 purlwise” in pattern, if I understand what’s what). I’m using the stitch to the outside / right-side of the underarm HFR segment as the K1 referenced in the instructions. On the RS, I resolve the HFR (i.e. work in rib) - not worrying about whether I start with a K1 or a P1 as long as I stay in pattern. The K1s are technically BRKs, if I understand correctly, but they are referred to as “sl stitches and yo together”.

• The way I interpret the HFR instructions:

WS: * K1, yfsl1yo *

Note that I utilized the K to the outside of the HFR segment markers (4th and 2nd markers) as the initial K1. According to instructions this is described as k1, 1 yo, slip 1 purlwise but in this instance, I believe the K1 is supposed to be within the 1st and second markers and the 3rd and 4th markers.

RS: P1, BRK (Resolution row)

According to instructions this is described as “* k1 (slp sts and yo together), p1“

In case you lose your focus, use these facts to get you back on track… (Note however that, at 10.25” from underarm I realized that my stitch marker positioning wasn’t going to yield an even end result (from the perspective of stitch count in each section, and from the perspective of maintaining symmetry from the centre back stitch). Nonetheless, the stitch pattern does look completely balanced and it was only a stitch off, which I corrected when I realized what was up. See Update below for info about I evened things…):

• At the end of the row, WS rows have an odd number of back st and an odd number of HFR/brioche stitches.

• At the end of the row, WS rows have 2 more right front rib stitches than left front. (As I continued to knit, it became clear that this should be one more, not 2, and I’ve altered this as of 10.25” below armscye.)

• At the end of a RS row, right front has 1 more rib stitch than on left front.

• If you start with a P on the right HFR, you should start with a P on the left HFR.

• RS row - this is where you inc 1 st on LEFT brioche and decrease a stitch of rib on left back body.

• RS row - this is where you increase 1 stitch on RIGHT brioche and decrease 1 st on the right front ribbing.

• WS row - this is where you increase 1 st on RIGHT brioche and decrease 1 stitch on the right back body.

• WS row - this is where you increase 1 stitch on the LEFT brioche and decrease one stitch on the left front ribbing.

Update - as of 10.25” of body length from underarm, when I realized that, at the end, I wanted even stitch counts on each front (brioche) panel and symmetry from the centre back stitch (in my case stitch 146), I made the following mod:

• First off, before starting the next WS row, I moved the marker delineating the right front rib from right front brioche such that there would be 1 fewer stitch on the rib portion (15 instead of 16) and one more stitch on the brioche portion. I also removed one stitch from the back body, as it meets the left brioche, and gave that to the brioche portion. At this point my stitch count distribution was 291st as follows:

Edge / Right Fr Rib / RBR / B / LBR / Left Fr Rib / Edge
3 / 15 / 109 / 37 / 109 / 15 / 3

After completing this WS row, the st distribution was:

Edge / Right Fr Rib / RBR / B / LBR / Left Fr Rib / Edge
3 / 15 / 110 / 36 / 110 / 14 / 3

• The centre back stitch is the one sandwiched between the 145 stitches on either side of that midline (145 + 1 + 145 = 291).

• Eventually I completed the front rib stitches but I still had 7 back rib stitches that hadn’t been incorporated into the HFR/brioche sections. According to the pattern, there should be no rib stitches left on the back body before you bind off.

• OMG - I’m only 10.25” into the side body and this rib to brioche thing feels interminable. What I will say is that this is the first sweater designed to be knitted at least as long as I like (aka not cropped). But never would I prefer more that the sweater be short, from a time and effort perspective. Can’t say this has been my fave knit, though I’ve gone through worse. And if the finished object fits the way I hope it will, it will be worth the mediocre pattern and the many rows.

• It would have been helpful for the designer to suggest a bind off, but none is recommended. As such, I looked through a few online and opted to try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0DmpKxKu0o. Turns out it was too stretchy and I didn’t love how it looked. Instead, I bound off in pattern, knitting the yarn over (on the long knit / brioche stitch) with the knit stitch and purling the purl stitches, simply lifting the last stitch over the other (as per “standard” BO). This created a neat finish that isn’t too stretchy but which provides enough give so that the high-low hem sits nicely.

Sleeves:

• I don’t know how it is that my gauge is shorter than instructed but I still can’t fit 7 decreases (14st) over the span between my underarm and elbow when decreasing once every 12R. I started with the instructed rate (2x) and then did a decrease round on the 11th round. Thereafter I realized I had only 2 more inches before getting to my elbow (or approx 20R at my gauge). Because my sleeve gauge (in small circumference) is tighter with this yarn/sleeve construction, I didn’t feel I needed to decrease all 14 st instructed. 12st would work for me. That means, on the final 21R (to the elbow), I decreased 3x more (on 7th, 14th and 21st rounds. A bit of a wonky rate of decrease but at least it provides optimal room around the underarm for a shirt underneath while also becoming narrower at the point when my arms become narrow (and aligned more with the first size).

• Before beginning the transition to rib I knitted 3R plain to get to elbow with arms bent.

• I ended up knitting the full rib pattern for 39R before switching to a smaller needle (US2.5 - I feel that US2 might yield a cuff that’s snugger than it needs to be. I worked 9R on US 2.5. Will wait till after blocking to bind off…

• I didn’t measure the skein before I started the first sleeve but I estimate that it took 43g (given that the skein is supposed to be 50g and I have 7g left). As it happens, I have 43g of yarn with which to make the 2nd sleeve (that will confirm how much yarn I used). Thereafter, I will have exactly 3 full skeins remaining with which to finish the body (which I stopped working on to do the sleeves). I hope that I get where I want to with 2 of these 3 skeins, just because I prefer lighter-weight sweaters, but it’s fine if I need to use more because, thankfully, I have it.

• On completion of sleeve 2, I had 0.7g of the 43g left so I’m going to assume that each sleeve took 42.5g. The second one definitely did.

About the Yarn: I’ve not worked with Krea Deluxe before and, while it’s fine to knit with (not splitty, not rough), there are a couple of things that aren’t thrilling me thus far: The yarn creates a really messy stockinette stitch, pre-blocking. That’s not how merino tends to work for me, so I’m hoping that when blocked for a long period of time, the yarn will relax and even out. Also, there are too many knots in the yarn. I can handle a knot per ball but once it gets to 3 knots in a ball, my patience wears thin. Sure, this yarn can be spit spliced but it doesn’t felt as nicely as some yarns. I do think the colour palette offered is amazing and, presuming this blocks out well, I might use it again. Update: It’s unlikely I’ll use it again. There’s better merino out there at the same price point.

Pre-blocked Measurements:

Length from underarm to side hem on side body: 13”
Length from back neck to centre back (also length of front body: 24”
Circ at hip: 40” (unstretched, and this garment stretches)
Circ at bust: 33” (again, unstretched)
Shoulder width from tip to centre back neck: 7”
Width from shoulder tip to shoulder tip: 14”
Circ upper arm: 11.5”
Circ wrist: 6”
Length of sleeve from underarm: 17”
Armscye depth: 7.5”
Depth of “v neck: 8”

Gauge Swatches:

Swatch US 4:
Pre-blocked Stockinette: 25st and 34R in 4”
Post-blocked Stockinette: 22.5st and 36R? in 4”

Don’t go any larger in needle than that. US4 creates a nice springy but drapey fabric.

Swatch US 5:
Pre-blocked Stockinette: 24st and 33R in 4”
Post-blocked Stockinette: 22.5st and 32R in 4”

Pre-blocked pass1k2 pattern (in Beaufort 5): 25st and 28R (?) in 4”
Post-blocked pass1k2 pattern (in Beaufort 5): 23.5st and 27R (?) in 4”

Sport-Weight Pattern Options I considered:

Beaufort 5 by Isabell Kraemer 21st and 28R in 4” stockinette stitch on larger needle after blocking / 22 sts and 28 rows = 4” in texture pattern on larger needle after blocking

Simple Vneck by Ankestrick 22st and 29R

Rachel by Josee Paquin 22st and 30R