Sort of Finished!

I sort of finished a sweater! This was an insanely quick knit. If I hadn’t had an essay to write and studying to do, I think I could have knit this in only two weeks. I used 3 (I think) skeins of Cascade 220 and I used 5.5mm needles on the body.

blu4

It’s a simple top down raglan. The stitch pattern is a modification of a pattern from one of Barbara Walker’s treasuries. I think it was originally called Rabbit’s Tails or something like that. I’ve been calling it modified bunny butt. It’s interesting because it isn’t an eyelet pattern or a cable. You work a bunch of new stitches into one stitch and it stretches out the give you something that looks like an eyelet.

blu2

The stitch pattern originally staggers the little bunny butts, but I wanted neat rows so I changed the stitch pattern around. Half way through my sweater, I realized that staggering the pattern would keep the stitch count even. I had a hard time figuring out my gauge and how many stitches to cast on because of the way I modified the stitch pattern. My stitch count varies massively from row to row, but I think it turned out just fine because everything stretches like crazy.

blu6

You might have noticed I called this sort of finished. Well, I was binding off the sleeve and feeling relieved that my sweater mojo came back and extra pleased that I didn’t have to knit any major part of this sweater twice. With a sort of cocky attitude, I went ahead and knit my button band. I liked the way that the 3×1 ribbing turned out on my last cardigan so I decided to do that again. Anxious to wear my sweater (because it’s cold), I sewed on my buttons and weaved in my ends. Bad idea. The button band does all kinds of weird things. It gaps horribly. It curls in. It pulls up. It hangs strangely when the cardigan is unbuttoned. It has to go. And sadly the coral buttons have to go too because I only have four of them and this clearly needs more buttons.

blu3

But as I mentioned, it’s cold. I’d like to keep wearing this guy so I’m going to leave the strange button band for now. I’ll fix it when I get home for the summer because it definitely won’t be cold there. I’m pretty damn happy with the sweater, despite the button band.


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29 responses to “Sort of Finished!”

  1. YAY! Adorable! Will there be a pattern for this little sweater?

    Also, when you do a cardigan, do you put grosgrain ribbon on the backside of your button band to help with gapping?

    1. I’m not sure if there will be a pattern. I haven’t looked into what grading this will be like.

      I’ve never tried grosgrain before. I usually add a million buttons close together so I’ve never had much of a problem with gapping before.

  2. I love this sweater and I am impressed with your speedy needles, and ability to do the end of year assignments too! Do you ever get out little girl? (Insert mommism here!) All work and no play makes for a dull day. Just kidding, I know you’ll do what makes you happy.
    As for the button band going wonky, I can’t see it from the distance shot, so keep wearing it til it warms up.

  3. I love this sweater and I am impressed with your speedy needles, and ability to do the end of year assignments too! Do you ever get out little girl? (Insert mommism here!) All work and no play makes for a dull day. Just kidding, I know you’ll do what makes you happy.
    As for the button band going wonky, I can’t see it from the distance shot, so keep wearing it til it warms up.

  4. It looks great! You can’t see from the shot that the button band has problems.

  5. It looks great & a bit retro! Well done!

  6. Woah! What a quick knit! I love the shape, color, buttons, stitch pattern… everything!

  7. Woah! What a quick knit! I love the shape, color, buttons, stitch pattern… everything!

  8. It’s such a cute sweater. Congrats!

  9. You are beyond cute. And so is that cardi.

  10. You are beyond cute. And so is that cardi.

  11. It’s adorable! And you look absolutely wonderful in it.

  12. As someone said above, the gapping/pulling isn’t noticeable until you mentioned it.

    RE: Coral buttons, have you thought about getting some plain white buttons in the same shape and dying them with RIT dye to match? Then you can have a big bag of coral colored butons?

    BTW, the blue looks fab on you!

    1. I’ve never tried dying buttons before. That sounds like it could be fun.

  13. Such a cute sweater!! I love the buttons.

  14. What an adorable cardigan! The stitch pattern looks very interesting.

  15. What an adorable cardigan! The stitch pattern looks very interesting.

  16. Nothing is more frustrating than having that last little bit of a knit not come out.
    I’m happy to say that the sweater looks lovely on you. I’m sure you can put off re-knitting the band for a good long while.

  17. Hope a pattern is coming! You have such great taste.

  18. Love it!!! You are one fast knitter if you could do that in two weeks. ๐Ÿ™‚ As for taking out the band…if it makes you feel better I had to do that on a band that went all around the cardigan…You started picking up stitches on the back of the neck then you went down the front, around the back and up the other side where you joined it and knit in the round….It about killed me to rip it out and start over….but it was well worth it in the end!!! ๐Ÿ™‚
    Denise

  19. Love it!!! You are one fast knitter if you could do that in two weeks. ๐Ÿ™‚ As for taking out the band…if it makes you feel better I had to do that on a band that went all around the cardigan…You started picking up stitches on the back of the neck then you went down the front, around the back and up the other side where you joined it and knit in the round….It about killed me to rip it out and start over….but it was well worth it in the end!!! ๐Ÿ™‚
    Denise

  20. It’s very pretty! Good work! I love the red buttons against the light blue colour!

  21. It’s very pretty! Good work! I love the red buttons against the light blue colour!

  22. I really like this The stitch pattern is cool and you’ve chosen a great colour. Goes well with your refashioned dress too!

  23. michelle

    I really love the texture on this sweater– would love to see a pattern emerge. ๐Ÿ™‚ The button color is fantastic, too.

  24. kang hui jeoung

    Well, your work?
    It’s nice.
    So nice to see a pattern of work is never too too bad.

  25. Suey

    I know it’s been a while since you made this cardigan but was wondering if a pattern ever became available to buy. I love the pattern throughout ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Sadly a pattern for my cardigan never happened. Getting this particular design to work in multiple sizes was more difficult than what I could manage at the time.

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