Not that I would have needed another large project on my needles, but my mother was so much enarmored with this cardigan when she first laid eyes on it, I just had to give her the wool and the making of this cardi as a birthday present.

Yarn is a joy to work with.

The pattern is basically very simple but the pattern writing could be more precise at various points and hence ends up being unnecessarily confusing.

A word of caution: read the pattern carefully and focused, highlight sections of interest. Helped me tremendously in decoding what DROPS was actually talking about.

Fronts left/right: When going for the fronts, basically you will be knitting SHORT ROWS (pattern doesn´t say that explicitly). Used standard w&t to prevent holes which you are sure to get (did it without my preferred SR method first time around as I was too focused on stitch counts). It was still holey enough and the subsequent picking up of stitches in between the decrease pairs doesn´t fix this completely, so I picked up an additional stitch here and there when it was too holey for my liking. More stitches, but identical fronts. Works for me.

If I would ever knit this again, I might opt for decreasing 1 stitch at the end of each row, then I could use German short rows and the chances of holes occuring are minimal. Might give you another angle from collar to front middle, but that might be okay.

And one error in the pattern: From the (in case of size S) initial 153 sitches of one front you´ll be slipping 2 unknit stitches on to the holder EVERY OTHER row (and not each row as the pattern says!) That way you can knit up the number of A2 chart repeats your chosen sizes needs.(In case of size Small: 2 repeats).

I recommend blocking (lightly) the body of the cardi to open up lace and get it into shape. Good idea for the original Drops alpaca yarn I used, might not be as important for other, thicker yarn choices

Armholes are too large in dimension or, the other way around, sleeves as written are rather small and snug.
This can be easily fixed by working the upper arm part wider (keeping up increases or increase more often).
Easier to work the arms wider than closing the arm hole gap without working in unwanted pleats in the cardigan body.

If you are petite (like Mom and me)- no problem with the sleeve size as such, if not - I advise to make them wider from the get-go.

Used the interchangeable cables from my KnitPro collection - best stitch holders ever for this project.

And it´s plain, ah, unfortunate to name your charts A1 and A1X when you also use the letter “x” to say “repeat chart times 1 or whatever.

Funny aside note:
Made size S/M and had worked up the first repeat up to the armholes when I realized I had too many stitches on the needles. Instead of 7 petals I somehow managed to make 9 of them! Probably was too happy making leaves …LOLOL. Totally my fault ; )))

Helpful projects:
satsa
pfempfel