I love the look of oversized, knit-sideways sweaters. They always look so comfortable with their wide sleeves and boat necks. One thing I couldn’t get around, though, is the underarm bulk! It just seemed to me to detract from the finished project. I thought to myself, “why could you not just add some short rows to drop the angle of the sleeve and minimize that extra fabric?”

Well, why not?

This comfy sweater is knit starting at the right sleeve in the round. When the sleeve length is met, sets of short rows are worked as if working a sleeve cap. Each cable repeat is 2.8” long at my original gauge. That being said, the cable pattern will be worked from both the right side and the wrong side. If you can work cables normally, you can totally work it from both sides. You have several pattern repeats to get the feel for the cables down. I would recommend running a life line before working the first set of short rows, though, just in case. The neckline is then split and worked flat with additional cast-on stitches to drop it under the bust. A schematic is given so you can gauge if you would like more or fewer stitches cast-on.

After the neckline is work and the left sleeve is done, stitches are picked up around the bottom and knit down in the round. Purling really slows my knitting process down so this seemed so natural to do.

The cable panels are given as charts. Given the amount of cabling involved, I would recommend working them without a cable needle. Knitty has a wonderful guide for this. RCI (Rachel’s Cool Increase) are used to mirror the k2tog and SSK’s on the neckline shaping. A link has been provided to the website along with written instructions how to do this increase in the pattern.

If substituting yarn, choose something with adequate drape. And make it something soft!

As always, if there are any questions or sizing concerns, just let me know!