A stop-start test knit due to mods needed in the pattern. It had to be put on hold for a period whilst it went back to the tech editors, before I could go on and finish it.

Very sweet style of cardigan in garter stitch, with cables running down the sleeves and beside the front edges.

Due to the gauge difference between the cables and garter stitch, the cardigan would hang lower in front. I wanted to avoid this. The pattern was modified by the designer to incorporate a few short rows at the back to fight the lengthening at the front. However I worked my short rows differently… I worked short rows starting on about the 3rd row after sleeve separation, by starting each at the edge of one front cable and ending at the edge of the other front cable (the inside edge, not the edge near the front band). I worked about 6 garter ridges between each short row. Result was a cardigan the same length at back and front, but it certainly gobbled up the yarn!

Body length from underarm for 0-6m size would be 20cm if worked as per the pattern. For my tastes and my needs that is too long… I don’t want a coat for a tiny baby, but a cardigan… so I made mine shorter. 16cm still seems plenty long.

The cables cause a flare at top under the neckband, and at the bottom. If I’d thought of it initially I would have tried to avoid that flare as the neckline doesn’t sit nicely. I might have tried casting on a couple fewer stitches just above where the cables will fall and then increasing when it’s time to set up cables; also having fewer stitches in the cable right at the top, and/or working the first couple of rows of the cable with smaller needles. Hopefully the published pattern might rectify this problem and it won’t be an issue.

Working the cables on the sleeves I used 3.5mm needles just for the cables, and 4.00mm for the garter part of the sleeves. It meant a lot of dpn’s, 4 for the garter, 2 for the cable, plus a cable needle. (An effort to diminish the effect of the cables and garter stitch not matching in gauge.)

At the bottom I avoided the cable flare by decreasing stitches in each cable - on the last row (RS) before casting off I did a K2tog decrease right in the centre of each cable. Then during the cast off I knitted 2tog twice, I think, in each cable… the two outside sts on each side of the cable.

Casting off the sleeves I did k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog over the cables to ease them in so as not to flare.

Casting off hem and cuffs, I cast off purlwise for the garter portion, and knitwise for the cable sections, casting off on the RS.

The last photo shows the yoke in progress. The initial rows of the yoke have you placing many markers. There are 8 cable markers, two for each cable, and four raglan markers. My markers are a mixed lot of yarn loops, but I recommend perhaps using one colour for the raglan markers and a different colour for the cable markers. It became confusing knowing where I was up to in those first few rows, and the instructions in the test pattern complicated it by being a series of similarly worded instructions repeated in a long string.

The yarn relaxes hugely when washed. I hope it returns to original size once dry. (It did, dried flat.)

Finished measurements:
Chest 48cm
Body length from top of shoulder 27.5cm (pattern says 31cm for a 0-6m size, but I made mine a cardigan length rather than coat)
Sleeves from underarm 15cm