Short-Sleeve Cardigan Pix and Thoughts

You ever have something that you really need to do - like write a term paper or finish your brother's God-forsaken afghan - and suddenly you feel an obsessive need to clean the toilet?

Well, I had an obsessive need to knit this cardigan! A 2 for $6 sale on Patons Shetland Chunky at Michael's was no help. Neither was this fantastic color (dark leaf green) which matches my eyes perfectly! There was no question, it had to be done.

When I started swatching, I knew I was not going to get the recommended gauge of 14 sts/inch with the recommended size 10 needles. I got more like 15 sts/inch and ended up deciding to just go for it at the 38" size using the 10 and 8 needles called for in the pattern. I added 4 extra rows in the yoke since historically I have found the armholes in Fitted Knits patterns to be too shallow. For those extra rows, which were worked back and forth, to keep the yo's intact, I worked to two stitches before the marker, ssk, yo, sl marker, k1, yo, k2tog. You can't even tell.

I did find a couple errors that are not in the currently published errata at Glampyre Knits. I've emailed Stefanie, but I'll include them here for anyone to reference. The final set of instructions for the stockinette/reverse stockinette ridges on the body begin with a RS row and should actually begin with the directive to knit 2 rows instead of just one. This way you get the knit row on the right side to transition into the horizontal ridges and the first purl ridge.

I was happy to see that the sleeves were written in the round. I find it funny that this cardigan, whose instructions are obviously to knit back and forth, has sleeve instructions in the round. The pullovers, which are knit in the round, all have instructions to knit the sleeves flat and seam them later! I don't see the point of that so I've been doing all my sleeves in the round just like how this pattern says. However, when you get to the bordered ribbing and the "next row" instructions with the decreases, they are completely wrong in both the directions and the numbers of stitches you'd end up with. It should read NEXT RND: Knit, inc 2 (0, 2, 2, 0) sts evenly spaced - 36 (36, 40, 44, 44).

I'm very happy with my finished product. The ribbing rides up a little but that's my only complaint. The rest of it fits perfectly. At first, because I live in Minnesota, I questioned the practicality of a short-sleeved cardigan. As I wore it, however, I realized that a short-sleeved cardi is perfect for me. I often roll up my sleeves while I work and all the time when I knit. Even when I use circulars, my needles sometimes get caught up inside longer sleeves. Then there's the times when I'm trying to cook, or helping with homework, or doing laundry, blah blah blah. So for me, you see, this cardigan is ideal.