Hello! I’m back wth my March knitting project; this one is of course a cardigan for my oldest grandson Arthur…
It’s the same Sirdar pattern that I used for Theo’s cardigan, one size up. You might have noticed it’s the same colour pattern too… with seven double rows of each colour offset with each other. When you start out with a plan like this, using scrap yarns, then it’s always going to be a bit of a gamble that the quantities of wool colours are going to actually be enough to see it through. Fortunately I was very lucky again that it worked out!
Arthur has quite delicate colouring compared to his cousin; blond hair and blue eyes, pale skin, so I know these lighter, clear colours would be really nice on him. I’ll come back and post a picture of him wearing it, come winter time. 🙂
In Arthur’s words “it’s beautiful, like a rainbow” sigh! Higher praise is just not possible!
Now; when I posted Theo’s cardigan, remember I promised to post pictures improving how to join the sleeves to the body to continue in one piece without stretching out the underarm bit?
btw; I know this explanation is not going to make much sense unless you’re actually knitting a thing like this, but it’s mostly to remind myself if I ever need to do this again…
So, up until this point I’ve knitted the body ie. back and two fronts, in one piece and cast off the underarm stitches. Each sleeve has been knitted flat exactly to the pattern to the underarm. Then I take a needle and knit the right front and half a sleeve, then take a (long) fresh needle and knit the other half of the sleeve, the back, and half the other sleeve, then take another fresh shorter needle and knit the other half of the sleeve and the left front. So; the three sections join up on the middle outer edge of each sleeve; and I commence knitting the cardigan from the armholes up, decreasing the raglan seams across the whole piece. The only seams needing to be stitched at the end are the underarm and sleeve seams.
I always love your scrappy sweaters. These colours are delicious. You have a great eye.
I have enjoyed reading your blog for quite some time now. Mostly, I sew, but I also knit. And when it comes to knitting, my least favorite part is joining the various pieces,. I love the idea of working body and sleeves in one piece, with only the sleeve seams left to sew. I will try this with my next sweater project. Thank you for sharing this clever idea and for your clear explanation of how to do it!
Oh, interesting way to join the sleeves in – there’s always another way, isn’t there? Is there a reason why you don’t knit the sleeves with double points to eliminate the sleeve seams? Not quite the same gauge as the body?
thank you Cussot! I prefer to not knit the sleeves in the round because there’s always a “step” where you have to join the new colour for the next stripe. If you knit in the flat and sew a seam then the stripes can be perfect. 🙂
Nobody would ever guess this delightful little cardigan is made from scraps! Very inventive way of joining the sleeves and I am keen to try it out.
It looks great and thank you for the ideas too. With a couple of young grandchildren this will be handy.
Sam the Aussie