Another BRILLIANT design from Jennifer Wood. Her construction techniques are as masterful as her way with cables. I have such fun knitting her patterns. There’s never a boring moment and the final product is always AMAZING. If you match gauge, the fit (for me) is perfection. I sometimes have to make minor adjustments for length, but that’s very easy. The only things I lengthened on this project were the sleeves.

What I did differently:

• I did Japanese short rows rather than German short rows. I find JSRs to be a bit more invisible. Because of this change, I stopped 11 sts from the end every time I knit Row #8 of the charts.

• I did Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off using a size 3 US needle. For the last part of the bottom edge, I did a 3-needle bind-off after turning the facing under (4 sts + turning/twisted purl sts). This eliminates bulk at the bottom edge of the left front facing.

• I tacked down the facing inside using sewing thread rather than yarn - again to eliminate bulk.

• I used 12 store bought buttons rather than crocheted buttons since my buttonholes were very tiny and there were so many of them. My buttons were spaced so that there were two cable buttonholes between each button (1 5/8” between each).

• After picking up the sleeve stitches (72 total), I decreased 2 sts on every 9th round (12 times) which brought me to 48 sts. Then I decreased 1 additional stitch on the first round of the cuff (beginning round of the Saddle Border Chart). So I had 47 sts for the cuff as recommended in the pattern for my size.

• Using the same size 4 US needle, I did 11 repeats of the Saddle Border Chart which resulted in a sleeve cuff 3.5” long. I bound off using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off using size 3 US needle.

• I used a smaller needle for the neckband (size 3 US). I did a normal bind-off, though I tried not to do it too tight.

• I picked up 102 sts for the neckband (30 sts each front, 42 sts in the back), pulling the sts snuggly around the cable before knitting.

I absolutely LOVE the way Jennifer designs buttonholes. So pretty and easy!

The neckline shape will look odd until you pick up stitches and knit the finishing rows.

Measurements:

Underarm to bottom edge = 13.5” (10” + 3.5” ribbing)

Sleeve length from underarm = 17.5” (14” + 3.5” cuff ribbing). Each sleeve took most of 1 ball of yarn. I only had 26 yds left on each ball, so each sleeve took about 154 yds. If I knit this again, I might use 1 size smaller needle for the sleeve cuff ribbing.

This yarn has good stitch definition and is easy care for kids. It has some thick and thin areas, but overall it’s fairly uniform in thickness. Different dye lots look the same - at least for me. So no worries if you can’t match dye lots. This yarn is beyond soft. I hope it doesn’t pill because the cardigan looks great right now.

Needles:

Size 3 US: Neckband and all bind offs
Size 4 US: Everything else

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