I knew that I would never wear a vest but I liked this pattern, so I decided to try to knit it as a cardigan. Based on my experience with this project, I added 3 stitches to the cast on (k,p,k), and marked them in the centre front with markers. This will be my steek cutting line. I then knit the sweater as written, moving my row change to the front centre, rather than the shoulder. I chose not to add any shaping and I added 10 cm in length.

Oh, and the sleeves… I decided to use the Aftur pattern from Istex as a guide, since the stitch counts were similar. I knit half a sleeve, and it was gigantic! In the end, I cast on 30 sts (rather than 38), then knit for 13 cm before beginning to increase. I then increased 2 sts every 10 rows. I can’t tell you what happened next, only that I did not have nearly enough stitches on the sleeves when it came time to add them to the sweater. My notes are very scribbled, but it looks like I had 50 stitches on each sleeve, when I should have had 60. I joined the sleeves to the body of the garment, and knit 4 rows before starting the colourwork. During these 4 rows, I added 20 stitches. I think. Like I said, my notes are scribbles, and this was a very stressful bit. The lesson is: you can do a lot of fudging with your knitting, and things will usually turn out alright. At the time, I speculated that the colourwork area would be thicker and would pull in a bit, so by adding the 20 sts right before it began, things would turn out perfectly even. At least that is what I hoped, and there is no puffed shoulder, so all is well in the end.

This is a super tutorial for steeking.

Another great hint for steeking is to knit the 2 colours together on the purl (steek) stitch so that everything gets stitched in nicely on the machine (no long contrast-colour floats just hanging there). Also, this makes it easier to see your steek stitch when you are sewing, as it will not be obscured by the contrast-colour floats.

When I finished the colourwork part of the project, my neckline was VERY wide and low, almost over my shoulders. I added several short rows across the back and tops of my shoulders (6 or 7 sets?), decreasing about 20-25 stitches along the way. I then added the neckband, and it seemed to turn out ok. I use the German short row method, described here and here.

If you haven’t already, I urge you to take a look at The Philosopher’s Wool amazing video on the two-handed colourwork technique. She explains the method beautifully, and your colourwork will look so neat and woven. Also, she is so sweet and lovely it will make you smile.

I calculated my buttonhole spacing using this handy program: http://knitable.net/ButtonholeCalc.asp

I ended up not using the fourth colour (darker turquoise). It was just too bright.