It’s done! Thirteen days of knitting, and one day to block, and I’ve turned five and a half balls of Felted Tweed into a Tangled Yoke cardigan :) No modelled shots today, the weather’s dreadful and my flu isn’t as better as I thought it was, so I won’t inflict my washed out features on you – my knitting group friends very kindly told me on Wednesday that I looked dreadful on the last lot of photos!
This was the best I could do for a hanging shot – the flash bleached it out, but without the flash it was blurry. So I made do with laying it on the cupboard in the front window and no flash.
I read quite a few comments on Ravelry about the front of the neckline being too high, so I added some extra short rows – I started nine stitches in from the fronts, and did seven lots, six stitches apart, which has dropped the front by about two inches.
I particularly like the collar on this one – you knit it twice as high as you want it, pick up stitches along the purl bumps at the base of the collar using a smaller needle, then do a three needle bind-off. Some people have just sewed the live stitches down, and I did contemplate doing that, as it would have been less fiddly, but it occurred to me that the bind off would give the neckline some structure and make it less likely to stretch out, so I did it as written, and I’m glad I did, it looks very neat.
A little thing I’d change if I was doing it again would be to eliminate the decreases at either end of the last decrease row, they mean that you only have one knit stitch at the ends of the collar after you’ve picked up the stitches for the button band, and it goes a bit squewy there because of the decreases. It’s a very minor thing, but it bugged me.
I used 3mm needles for the button bands (I used 4mm for the body), and picked up three stitches for every four rows, fudging a little at the ends to make sure I had a number divisible by four for the rib. I like the cast off knitwise on the right side, it gives a nice line to the edge which frames the band.
I wanted to put the button holes in the garter sections of the rib, but I couldn’t space them evenly, so I put the first four closer together, so it (hopefully) won’t gape over the bust.
I made the rib on the sleeves the same depth as that on the body.
The cabled yoke was a little tedious to do, especially the two rows in the middle where nearly every stitch was cabled, but it was worth it, it looks very pretty.
The cable is mirrored around the centre back – you can trace each one from the bobble at the front edge to the centre back and back again in one continuous line, very clever.
ETA – I’ve managed a few slightly dodgy (and headless!) mirror shots.
It does fit nicely, it measured 36” underarms before blocking, and 38” afterwards for zero ease, which is what I was hoping for.
The only bit I’m not sure about is the slight bulging under the arms. I’ve found this before with raglans, and this one didn’t have any shaping for the first three inches, so it was probably inevitable.
I’ll probably wear it like this quite a lot.
The details – the pattern is Tangled Yoke by Eunny Jang, from Interweave Knits Fall 2007, also available from their online store. The yarn is about 5.5 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed, colourway 162, Clover. I used 4mm needles for the body, 3.75mm for the ribs and the collar, and 3mm for the button bands. My gauge was 21sts/4” after blocking, so I knitted the 34” size to come out at 38”, which worked perfectly. I loved working with the Felted Tweed again, and I’m very pleased with it!
It’s gorgeous! Well done!
Thank you! I’m really pleased with it :)
It looks beautiful and the fit is perfect! Great job.
Thank you! It’s always a bit nerve wracking knitting something smaller than you want it to be and blocking it to size – it was a relief when I tried it on!
oh, it’s lovely, and the fit is perfecto! wow, if i had a cardie like that i’d never take it off! :)
Thank you! I can see it getting a lot of wear once I’m up and about again :)
Wow, so fast! Unbelievable! Very nicely done.
It was only fast because flu has glued me to the sofa for the past few weeks! You get a lot of knitting done when it’s all you’re good for…. ;)
That’s absolutely gorgeous!
Thank you :)
It is gorgeous!
I’ve been eye-ing this sweater for years…and I’m really inspired by yours. It’s really one of the nicest I’ve seen. Love the neck line…it turned out beautiful. Hope your feeling better soon.
Have a go at it! It’s a good pattern, and quite straightforward. I’m at the stage where I feel fine so long as I sit on the sofa, but once I try to do anything else it knocks me out – fingers crossed it passes soon!
Really lovely Helen! This has just moved up my ‘must knit it’ list! Hope you feel better soon.
Thank you! I hope so too, I’m getting bored of not being able to do anything but sit on the sofa. Even if it does give me lots of knitting time!
I looks great. I love this pattern and I think Felted Tweed is my favourite ever yarn. Nothing to look at in the ball but knits up beautifully, wears brilliantly, looks great. And is really quite good value – a whole cardigan in 6 balls… maybe I need some in this lovely pink…
It may well be my new favourite yarn too. I love Silk Garden, but its stripiness limits it somewhat – this is much more versatile, and economical too. And it looks very professional when it’s done. And it’s warm but lightweight – what’s not to love?