This cardigan won a 3rd place ribbon in the San Diego Fair, 2010 :)

Mods: top-down, no seams, knit-in top-down elbow sleeves. Love it!

Notes:

provisional CO 61 at shoulders. k2, 4 pattern reps, k2

BACK: 2 full vertical pattern reps, then inc 1 each side on RS rows 5 times (underarm incs) (end after row 10)

Leave back stitches alone.

FRONTS: Pick up 24 each side from prov. CO (dec away extra st on left side)

Work as for back until same length

CO 6 at underarms and work in the round. after a few rows dec away a few stitches at underarms so the pattern works out.

Work until long enough, then 24 rounds of ribbing

SLEEVES: pick up 48 arounds armhole (every other row). After working sleeve cap (see set-in sleeve, Knitting from the Top) work sleeve on 47 st (there will be 2 spare st at underarm)

FRONT BANDS: my numbers were 88, marker, 9, 15 (back neck), 9, marker, 88 (209)

Buttonholes are the one-row “tulips” buttonholes from the Techknitter’s article in summer 2010 Interweave Knits.

I used the surprisingly stretchy cast off, http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php which is great around the shawl collar (where you need a TON of stretch) but a little too loose on the straight bits. Next time I would use a regular cast-off for the straight bits.