Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Bulky cardi FO



This is the raglan jacket from Vogue Knitting Winter 2008/2009. This is a really fun cardi to wear and also fun to knit. The yarn is Cascade Bollicine Revolution, which must be a discontinued yarn because it came from the bargain basement of WEBS.
I think I must consider knitting more of these bulky styles. They have this aspect of almost-instant gratification knitting and they don't look that bulky when worn.

I used a 2.5 stitches/inch gauge instead of the 2 st/inch from the pattern and knit the medium size. The length of the lace came out shorter because of a finer row gauge, and I wanted that. I knit a longer bodice and used tapered increases to the bust to get some shaping. I used a much finer gauge for the seed stitch button band to ensure a dense band and reduce button gaposis. I made adjustments to the raglan decrease rate to get the right armhole depth and neckline width. I try for about 8.75" of raglan depth for a cardigan. The neckline, after being worn for a day, is about 25" wide.

I actually like the yarn because it's really soft and warm and easy to knit with. It does have one annoying aspect. The fiber content is 90% merino wool and 10% nylon. The nylon is a single strand that wraps around wool on the outside and holds everything together, but that single strand can get caught on things like my watch when I don the sweater and it ends up getting pulled and distorting the yarn. I might buy some more anyway because it's dirt cheap.

5 comments:

Ellen Bloom said...

The bulky cardi looks great, Betty! Hmmm? Maybe it's the heft of the yarn that makes this cardi drape so beautifully. It doesn't look bulky at all. It gives you a very slim silhouette. Nice work!

Robin said...

Beautiful! It doesn't look bulky at all - very nice on you and flattering!

Knittymuggins said...

Fantastic!! The color is beautiful and you are so right - it really doesn't look that bulky at all! Thanks for your thoughts on the Bollicine Revolution too. I had considered buying some of that at one point, but wasn't sure if I'd like it. It might be great for warm woolies stuff too...

knittymuggins

Unknown said...

Help!!! I'm in love with this jacket, but I cannot get from row 8 to row 9 in the the chart. I'm on my fourth try, and every time the count comes out wrong. At first, I thought I was miscounting at the end of each of the pattern repeats by doing a p2tog. Did you have any chart issues, or am I just a total nincompoop?

betty said...

Hi Stephen -- I did not have any problems with the chart. Did you end up gaining or losing stitches from row 8 to 9?
They are p2tog only at the ends, but stitch 15 is a p3tog, and stitch 15 is repeated 2, 3 , or 4 times, depending upon your size. Did that make sense?