Tag Archives: Four Play cardigan

Seemingly simple cardigan

I’m pretty darn pleased with my only March FO!

Yarn: Brooks Farm Yarn Four Play
Needles: US 5 / 3.75mm and US 6 / 4.00mm Clover bamboo circulars

As for the pattern? Well, I didn’t use one, exactly. Rather, I cobbled it together using a number of different resources. These references include Amy Herzog’s Fit to Flatter series, Sandi Wiseman’s tips on bust dart placement, Jenna Wilson’s “Ravellings on the knitted sleeve, part III”, and the armscye calculator by French Roast Design.

It’s comfy, fairly cute, and goes with much of my wardrobe, so what else could I ask for? Well, a couple of things, but this is mostly because I tend to be a bit critical of my own work. Such is life when you’re me, I guess!

The back and front both use vertical darts, rather than side shaping. Though I don’t think I did quite enough shaping. The hips and bust are fine, even if there’s a little more ease than I intended. The waist, on the other hand? Way too much ease, even taking the generally loose fit into account.

I kind of wish I’d done either a straight V-neck or a regular scoop, rather than sort of a hybrid between the two. I also wish I’d put in more buttons, to prevent some of the gapping action going on (it probably would have also helped if I’d started by placing the top button a little bit lower) . But these are pretty minor complaints, honestly.

Finally, shorter sleeves. As I’ve mentioned before, these end just above the elbow, since I didn’t have enough yarn for longer ones. Seriously, I had just enough left for seaming.

Speaking of the yarn, I absolutely loved working with the Four Play. However, as I’ve said before, it tends to grow a lot after washing. Also, I’ve worn the sweater a fair amount already, and there’s some pilling under the arms now. Although, I wonder if both of these problems would be reduced by knitting at a tighter gauge. I guess I’ll have to buy more some day and test that out!

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Stoles and sleeves

I’d bought some laceweight Malabrigo back in 2008, in a gorgeous deep purple. (Who’s surprised by my color choice? Probably no one.) Fairly soon after I’d bought it, I decided that I wanted to use it for a Juno Regina stole.

However, it took me awhile to get around to it, because I had other stuff in the queue first and I try to have only one lace shawl/stole in progress at anytime. (You may notice some very convenient loopholes in that rule. Yes, those were put in on purpose.)

I actually ended up breaking that rule in July 2010. I’d started Aeolian just before Comic Con, but Aeolian is a poor choice for convention knitting, so I wanted something simpler. Juno Regina fit the bill nicely, and I figured I’d only have about a week of overlap anyway.

Much of the knitting here is actually from Comic Con. I’ve worked on it a little bit since then, but not much, since because during the last quarter of 2010, Juno Regina was pretty much my only WIP without a deadline.

The other reason I’m slacking? I’m not super thrilled with the yarn. Yes, it’s pretty and soft, but it’s spun kind of inconsistently. I don’t mind some variation in thickness, but I’ve come across some super-thick parts and some incredibly wispy parts as I’ve knit; both have been so extremely different from the rest of the skein that I’ve had to cut them out altogether. The yarn also has an unfortunate tendency to stick to itself – the center of my pull ball is a partially felted mess.

But at least the finished product will be nice, right?

On a less negative note, I now have sleeves for my Four Play cardigan!

They’re elbow length, exactly like I wanted! Had to unravel my swatches and use that yarn for it, but still, yay! And I have just enough yarn left for seaming, too.

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On the plain side

Just so this blog doesn’t turn into all previous years all the time, I’ll be interspersing the FO catchup posts with newer stuff. Today, let’s talk about one of my current WIPs.

Would you believe that I only own one cardigan? Sad but true. (Although I love that one cardigan to bits!) So I figured it was about time I changed that.

These are the front and back pieces of a plain black cardigan. I’ve been wanting to make one for awhile – I even bought buttons for it over a year ago! But I just got around to starting it last month.

The yarn is Brooks Farm Four Play, which I’d bought at Stitches West back in 2009. I’m loving it so far, except it grows a lot after washing. Which I already knew thanks to my swatches, but the back and fronts grew even more than I’d anticipated. So, what you’re seeing above? That’s actually take two on all three pieces, after ripping back to an inch below the original armholes and reknitting.

Because I’m a little worried about running out of yarn, the plan is to knit the buttonbands next and the sleeves last. Luckily I already planned on a short-sleeved sweater!

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