B-side

Aptly named? I definitely don't consider it an A-side anyway. Well it's finally finished, and I have to admit that even though I wasn't happy when I finished with it, I've still worn it nearly everyday since it came off the needles.

It proved to be an easy knit, but one fraught with problems, both of my own making and the patterns. The first was a problem with the charted cable, which was an easy fix, because I realised that there were some missing symbols. The second and biggest was the cable placement. It wasn't until I'd knit to the arm shaping that I realised that the cable was incorrectly placed so that the arm shaping ate into the cable. Because this was knit in one piece, frogging was not an option. I decided to fudge numbers slightly and live with 2 more stitches than I should have had on the left front (ie. front side with cable). The cable pulls in the fabric so an extra couple of stitches didn't cause too many dramas. The final problem I had with the pattern was that there was no mention at all of how to set the sleeves! I've never encountered a pattern that completely fails to mention the sleeves again after initially providing the direction of how to knit them. I'm still very much an intermediate-beginner, so I'm afraid I still need a tiny bit of hand holding when it comes to construction, and being that this was the first ever knit-the-body-in-one-piece cardigan I've made, I needed direction on whether to seam the sleeves first or whatever. After some quick communication with the designer she provided a very helpful tutorial, but I was surprised that there was no mention at all of the sleeves in the final construction phase - am I wrong in thinking this odd?


Anyway, the final verdict is that it's OK. Not great, but not terrible. The sleeves are quite ill-fitting - too tight along the length but baggy and bunchy around the shoulder. I'm quite sure that I should have knit the next size down as well. What I LOVE about this cardigan is the yarn. The Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed is totally and utterly gorgeous. I love, love, love it, and will be on the look out for some more to add to the stash.