This cardigan was knitted in a thick cotton yarn. I bought it as a pack of five skeins from a lady who spins it herself. (It is the same cotton yarn I used for
this lace openwork cardigan ) I used 10mm needles and knitted it from the neck down, making up the pattern as I went along. I used my previous pattern as a guide but reduced the number of stitches and increased the number of rows before I split off the sleeves.
On the button band I got rather carried away and made 12 button holes. This was far too many. The weight of the buttons on the left front was so great I had to hand sew a tape backing to stop it from stretching right out of shape and to keep it the same length as the right front.
I worked each colour in stripes of four rows each. In order to get the streaking effect of the colours I slipped stitches as follows :
First Row: Knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, slip 1, knit 3, slip 1, knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, slip 1, knit 3; repeat across the row ending with slip1 knit 1 slip1 knit 1 over last four stitches.
Second Row: Purl 1, slip 1, purl 7, slip 1, purl 7 repeat across row ending with purl 7, slip 1, purl 1. Third Row: Knit
Fourth Row: Purl.
In order to get the effect of all the slipped stitches being in line I had to work around the increases so skipped some slip stitches if the increases upset the numbers. It got rather out of order once the sleeves were done and I was knitting down the body. Of course it is not necessary to keep the slipped stitches in line across the rows. My mum made a similar cardigan and also slipped the stitches but let them run randomly down through the colours and it also looked good.
I more or less wrote down what I did as I went along so here is the pattern if anyone wants to do the same.
Cotton knit cardi - plain
Bust size 108 cm/42.5 inches. 10 mm needles. Tension approx. 11 stitches and 12 rows to 10 cm
Cast on 47 stitches
1 K1 P1 to end
2 P1 K1 to end
3 K1 P1 to end
4 P1 K1 to end
Continue in stocking stitch and increase for the raglan sleeves as follows:
Knit rows
• K9 (pick up and knit thread between stitches = M1), K1, M1, K 4, M1, K1, M1, K17, M1, K1, M1, K4, M1, K1, M1, K9. (55 stitches)
• K10, (M1,K1,M1= +2), K6, (+2), K19, (+2), K6, (+2) K10 (63 stitches)
• K11, (+2), K8, (+2), K21, (+2), K8, (+2), K11 (71 stitches)
• 12 (+2) 10 (+2) 23 (+2) 10 (+2) 12 (79)
• 13 (+2) 12 (+2) 25 (+2) 12 (+2) 13 (87)
• 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 27 (+2) 14 (+2) 14 (95)
• 15 (+2) 16 (+2) 29 (+2) 16 (+2) 15 (103)
• 16 (+2) 18 (+2) 31 (+2) 18 (+2) 16 (111)
• 17 (+2) 20 (+2) 33 (+2) 20 (+2) 17 (119)
• 18 (+2) 22 (+2) 35 (+2) 22 (+2) 18 (127)
• 19 (+2) 24 (+2) 37 (+2) 24 (+2) 19 (135)
• 20 (+2) 26 (+2) 39 (+2) 26 (+2) 20 (143)
• 21 (+2) 28 (+2) 41 (+2) 28 (+2) 21 (151)
• 22 (+2) 30 (+2) 43 (+2) 30 (+2) 22 (159)
• 23 (+2) 32 (+2) 45 (+2) 32 (+2) 23 (167)
• 24 (+2) 34 (+2) 47 (+2) 34 (+2) 24 (175)
Sleeves
Slip 26 stitches onto spare needle, work across 36 stitches for 8 rows. Rib 6 rows, cast off.
Slip 51 stitches onto spare needle, work 8 rows on next 36 stitches. Rib 6 rows, cast off.
Body
Work in stocking stitch across all remaining 103 stitches until long enough. Finish with 5 or 6 rows of rib.
Button bands
Pick up stitches down left side of the front. I picked up 4 for every 5 rows and it worked fairly well. Work 5 rows rib making button holes (wool round needle knit 2 together) in the second row. Cast off. Repeat for right side of front but without the button holes.
