• So I’ve decided to take on yet another PK pattern after making the Lulu Slipover 3x. My aim is to maximize the DK button band approach that I utilized on the Lulu but note, the instructions for making the buttonholes for the Lulu are different than those in this pattern. The Lulu buttonholes are made without having to cut any yarn so these are the bh instructions that I intend to use.

• I have some gorgeous cashmere yarn in a stunning grey with blue subnote. Though I got gauge on US7 needle, this yarn wants to be knitted on a US6 at 20st and 32R in 4”. I think this may work to my advantage because, even in the smallest size, at instructed gauge, this sweater will have too much horizontal ease and the armscyes are absurdly long (as evident in many of the photos - including PK’s).

• Because my gauge is smaller than instructed in both directions, I should be able to get to about 39.5” (pre-button band) of circ on the body, as of split for sleeves (or 41” when finished) and 9” of armscye depth (which is still longer than my pref BUT this is a cozy cardi and I want some room to wear things underneath). I may also need to make the sleeves less roomy.

• Of course PK provides no schematics so I had to read the entire pattern and do the math to figure out what I’d be working with. For the smallest size, the armscye is drafted to be almost 10.5” in depth. If you are small enough to need to make the first size, IMO, the armholes will be unpleasantly long and bulky, as drafted.

• I would not knit this pattern if I didn’t feel comfortable modifying it because I don’t love its proportions, as drafted. Alas, I can’t seem to find a cardi with a double knit button band that is fitted as I’d like (and that works with the gauge this yarn wants to be). Once I’ve worked this button band on one cardi, I’ll be able to use it on others. Note: I do want to try something a bit cozy i.e. not fitted, which is why I’m undertaking this, albeit with mods.

• Given that the pattern advises that your row gauge needs to be the same on both the larger and smaller needles, I’ve swatched on the rec smaller needle size (3mm) to confirm that my row gauge is also 8st per inch in double knitting. Note that I’m working on a US6 as my larger needle, while the pattern recommends a US7. Pre-blocking, my button band is at 8R per inch on the 3mm. And it appears to have stayed at that gauge once blocked.

The Knitting:

• The pattern doesn’t indicate that, after turning a short row, you have to make a double stitch of that first stitch that follows the turn. It indicates that you work german short rows, but never references the DS in the instructions. If I were a new knitter that would totally confuse me…

• The sleeves for size xs have an upper arm circumference of 15” of circumference, which is bigger than I’d like. I’ll work the sleeve increases until I have 58st on each sleeve. Then I’ll stop increasing on sleeves. This means that I’ll have 264st total at the end of the 6th repeat. During the second increase section, I’ll work as instructed and I’ll end that segment with 300st on the needles. I’ll work the sleeves as instructed when I get to that section. Only diff is that I’ll be starting with 10 fewer stitches per sleeve.

• A propos of the disproportionate sleeves: I did know this going into the process, but the distribution of stitches for front and back body and sleeves is seriously skewed towards sleeve stitches. I don’t mean that sleeves have more stitches than the back body, at cast on, but they’re almost equal. I know that this is likely to facilitate the “oversized” look. But the fronts seem so small by comparison with the sleeves (and back body).

• I hope that what happens is that the upper sleeve (at cast on and few rows thereafter) effectively forms part of the front body, to facilitate adequate coverage. When I tried this on using cords, pre-split for sleeves, it seemed like that will happen. But I generally knit raglans that are more “compound” than this one - very tailored to the front panels, given that I have boobs but also a narrow frame. And I always start with proportionately fewer sleeve st at cast on to maintain a clear shoulder line. This could be a deal breaker. I’m going to split for sleeves soon, and try on again, to confirm that I like the fit. If I don’t, then I’ll just rip this back and make something else.

• Update: Interestingly, the impact of the shaping is that the raglan line is quite prominent because it sits more on the front body than it would if the raglan had started from a narrower cast on. This ensures adequate front body circumference. A sleeve that starts with fewer stitches between the raglan lines, sits closer to the armscye and is less visible. Having said this, I don’t mind the look of the shaping thus far - which is a bit like the raglan shape you’d see in a cape. So I’m keeping on.

• Very definitely, if I hadn’t a) made the smallest size (which really isn’t very small given the amount of built in ease in this design) b) gone down a needle size to get a st gauge that’s 11% smaller than instructed and a row gauge that’s 14% smaller than instructed and c) removed substantive circumference from the sleeves, I would have been disappointed in the fit of this garment.

• For xs, at gauge and as instructed, the bust circ will be 43.5” following the split for sleeves BUT not including the ~1.5” button band - at which point it’s 45” when closed. At my gauge (5st per inch), the circ will be 39.25” which, once I add the placket, will come to ~40.75”. Note that I’ve not changed any of the rates of increase or number of rows for the front and back body - I have 196st on the body as of split for sleeves.

• Remember, one has to factor the raglan stitches into the circ of the body - they inc 6st on the front body, 3st on each front, and 6st on the back body. And thereafter, one picks up 6st at each underarm, adding another 12st to the circ of the body…

• Waist Shaping: Not sure if I’m going to do this. I think I’ll need to figure it out as I go… If I do, it will not be extreme shaping, prob more like the reduction of 2” of circ. Update: I opted NOT to do waist shaping.

• As of the start of the hem ribbing on the body, I have 30g of yarn to use as I’ve allocated the rest to sleeves and placket. (This is prior to the new ball of yarn I’ve bought - see info about the yarn situation below.) I reserved 61g for the placket/buttonband - more about that is also below. I’ll work the 30g and then wait for the remaining ball. Note: As my yarn will shrink by 7%, I want to get to 23.5” of depth from back neck so that it will block out to 22” - my preferred length. Update: This yarn really bloomed and relaxed and I got to 23” without issue. It didn’t shrink notably - yet another example of why gauge swatches only tell part of the story - albeit an important part.

• Each row of ribbing on the body takes 1.5g of yarn vs the 1.2g that the stockinette rows used…

• The Yarn Sitch: Given that I’ve cut circ from the sleeves and I’ve gone down a needle size, I should have enough yarn for the smallest size - though the amount I have is pretty well exactly what the pattern calls for at the xs size. The unknowable factor is that I need to knit more rows to get to the desired length at my gauge than I would at if knitted to the pattern gauge.

• Because I am worried about playing yarn chicken, and I do like to play, I’ve done a lot of math. It takes 2.45g to knit 2 rows on the body, at my gauge (5 st per inch) using the yarn I’m using (a light DK). As of this point (almost 3 balls gone), I’ve got 40 more rows at my gauge to work before I start the ribbing. That’s 49g or 1 ball before starting the ribbing. I sense that I’m only going to have 1 ball of yarn (50g) for each sleeve or I’m going to have to shorten the garment.

• Update on the yarn sitch: When I did all of the math, it seemed likely that I’d need to shorten the body or the sleeves or some combo of the two to have enough yarn. Or I’d need to have more yarn. The reality is that, even if smaller stitches use less yarn, when you knit to measurements, you’ll use more yarn to get to the same place with the yarn that knits up at a smaller gauge. My pref was to have more yarn to get to the desired length of sleeves and body. Update: As indicated, I knitted the sleeves much longer than necessary (though shorter than instructed) and nothing shrank vertically. So this issue wasn’t actually an issue.

• This yarn is hard to find and it’s made in batches from reclaimed fibre, so the dye lots would likely be very distinct and I bought the yarn almost a year ago. It is rather pricey - after tax. To buy a 50g skein costs more than 60 bucks CDN once tax and shipping are included?! And I knew I wanted more of this yarn. So natch, I did what any good yarn lover (who hates paying for shipping) would do: I called the shop to find out if they happened to have any of the grey left in my dye lot. They had ONE skein left which, natch, I snatched up. And then, of course, I also bought another sweater quantity of the same yarn, in navy, to offset the shipping cost. :-) The only place I’ve been able to find this yarn in Canada is in BC - and while it’s avail, given that I really like it, I thought there’d be no harm in buying another batch for a later date. Alas, this cost me $355 bucks (with no shipping charge) :-) :-) But, hey, now I’m set for when the right project comes along. Oh - and for the new batch of this yarn, I bough an extra skein (8 instead of 7) so I should have more than enough to knit any sweater…

• Sleeves: I started with 64st on the needles for a circ of 12.8”. I’ve measured and a full length sleeve would be 17” long from my underarm or 141R in total. As drafted, the sleeve length for xxs is also ~17” from underarm. Update: I think this may be too long. 16” - 16.5” might be better - given that the armscye is lower than usual for me - so I have put the stitches on a silicone cord and I can just rip back after blocking, if necessary, and then bind off.

• Update: Post-blocking, it became clear that the sleeves were insanely too long. I had to take 22 rounds of ribbing off of each sleeve, or 6.5g per sleeve. That’s a meaningful amount of yarn and, yeah, I def didn’t need to buy that extra skein… The shortened sleeve still goes to my thumb joint so it’s not in any way short. Were I to make this again, I’d remove the rounds from the stockinette portion of the knit, to keep the long ribbing. Also, the cuffs are still way too wide (as I suspected they’d be). Were I to knit this again, I’d reduce the stitch count for sleeves as I did here AND I’d go down a needle size to knit the sleeve cuffs.

• I have to keep in mind that I’m starting with 10 fewer st on the needles so I will do fewer decreases OR I’ll end up with a smaller circ at cuff. I want that smaller circ. Even with ribbing, 60st is a big cuff at the instructed gauge. Many of the project pages show a cuff that’s floppy and that I suspect won’t stay up if pushed up to the forearm. At 52st, at my gauge, the circ would be 10.4”. I’ll easily be able to get that over my hand, it won’t be too tight and, when I push up the sleeves - as I always do - they will stay pushed up. At least that’s the theory.

• Given my gauge and the fact that I want to start the decreases a bit later than instructed - because my starting circ is already smaller than instructed (as I’ve started with 10 fewer st and my gauge is also smaller) - I’ll begin decreasing on round 29 of the sleeves.

• Note also that the final 4” of rib and bind off, at which point there are no decreases, will take 38R of the 141R at my gauge. I’m not going to do the tubular set up which will save me a bit of depth. So my window for 4 decrease rounds (8st total) - to get me from starting circ at 64 st to 52st, at 74R, is smaller than if I were to make the sleeves, at instructed gauge, as instructed. Nonetheless, I’ll decrease starting on R29 and therafter either every 11th or 22nd round until R104. Were I to make this garment again, at the same gauge, I’d just decrease every 18R to make the decreases even along the sleeve. As I was making decisions while knitting, my decreases aren’t as consistently applied as they could be, but the overall sleeve looks completely even, in terms of decreases.

• In the end, I used exactly one ball per sleeve (prob about 52g as these skeins are overweight).

• Placket: When knitting the Lulu Slipover, I worked plackets that were ~8” in length. Each took 8-9g of yarn. Let’s call it 9g. I’ve just measured the length of the garment at the placket edge, with the recognition that - if I knit to 20” from centre back - there will be ~54” of placket to knit. 54” / 8” = 6.75”. 6.75” x 9g = 60.75g. Of course, this is an estimate and, even if accurate, will change if I lengthen the body. But it’s data to work with to estimate how to knit the body as long as possible. I do not wish to leave any yarn unused and I tend to like more length BUT I also do not wish to reknit the placket cuz I ended up running out of yarn. Update: In the end, I knitted the sweater longer than anticipated (if shorter than instructed) and I have ~58” of length over which to knit the placket. I expect I’ll use more like 66g of yarn for the placket, which is fine, because I bought the extra skein of yarn. I’ll likely end up having used 20g of the additional ball, which was 54g in weight.

• I was on vacay and didn’t bring my scale so I can’t say for certain how much yarn was used on the placket, given that I worked the placket by continuing to use the ball of yarn I used to finish the body, and not the 61g I’d set aside specifically for the placket. I did need to use a small amount of the 61g ball but not much… I suspect that I used more like 55g of yarn for the placket, based on how much yarn I have remaining.

• A couple of things about working the placket / button band: It is heavy. So you do need to make sure that you aren’t knitting it longer than necessary - which brings the potential impact of weighing/dragging down the fronts of the cardigan. If you are concerned that your smaller needle row gauge is slightly larger than that of the larger needle (which is better than it being slightly shorter), you can always K2tog 2 of the stitches that are picked up and knitted to make the button band, thereby evening things out. I reduced 2 st on each upper front (as it moves towards the shoulder) and one stitch in the centre(ish) of each sleeve. I didn’t overthink it - just worked these 6 decreases in the same general vicinity when two stitches seemed closer together than the others. Not sure this was necessary but I was slightly concerned about the weight of the placket bringing down the front hem.

• Keep in mind that the italian BO and CO add a row to the placket at each edge so you don’t want to pick up the first and last stitches exactly at the hem edge of the sweater on either side. Otherwise, the button band will be very slightly longer than the sweater body. Also, when you pick up the placket stitches, leave a long tail at both ends. Then, if you need to pick up an extra stitch on either end, you can do so easily by using the extra tail with a crochet hook. These stitches can be just as easily dropped, if they lead to too much length at the hem.

• Buttonhole Set Up: Note that I’m using the buttonhole instructions for the Lulu Slipover because I’m familiar with them and they don’t require breaking the yarn at any point.

• I set up the first buttonhole three-stitch “block” over stitches 5, 6 and 7. I positioned the top buttonhole block, as instructed, 1/2” below the final vneck increase. Between the bottom of the top buttonhole and the top of the bottom buttonhole, there are 94st. I’m going to use 5, 19mm buttons in total, so three between the top and bottom buttons. There are 21st between each 3-marked stitch buttonhole block (these demarcate the actual buttonholes) except for the span between the top of the bottom buttonhole and the bottom of the buttonhole directly above it. Between those, there are 22 st. I could even it out but I’d have to lower the bottom buttonhole or raise the top one and I want to be sure that there’s adequate space for both of those bhs and buttons without looking too high or too low - and the pattern clearly indicates where those should be placed. I’m pretty certain that this one stitch diff will not be noticeable.

Final Thoughts:

• I am very happy with the finished object which fits well without being overly roomy. But that’s because I spent a long time figuring out the math. Again - had I made this garment as instructed for the smallest size, at the instructed gauge, it would have been too wide in the sleeves, too long in the armscye and too oversized in the body circ. for my preference.

• I did make the body slightly shorter than instructed because I was concerned about running out of yarn and I like the preblocked length. I do anticipate that blocking will shrink the length slightly, but the sweater is not light-weight so it’s probable that it will stretch vertically with wear, even if the placket stabilizes things more than another sort of button band would. There was no need to pin when blocking. This yarn relaxes a LOT when blocked so the length from back neck to hem is 23” not including the depth of the button band.

• I was surprised by how long the sleeves knitted. They did not shrink vertically at all. And with the relaxation of all segments of this garment, I needed to remove 22 of the 38 rounds of ribbing on each cuff. That’s 6.5g of yarn per sleeve. So much for needing more yarn. I could have removed it from the stockinette portion if I were interested in ripping back the rest of the ribbing on each sleeve (only to reknit it) or if I were interested in doing sweater surgery. But I’m fine with 2” of cuff ribbing, even if the ribbed hem on the body is 4.25” in depth. If I were to knit this again, I’d remove the length from the stockinette portion to keep the alignment between the length of the sleeves and the length of the ribbed hem. And I’d go down a needle size on the ribbing for the sleeves.

• I feel that 5 buttons (19mm diameter) create an optimal closure. 19mm buttons aren’t disproportionately large, nor are they too small. The instructed diameter of 22-24mm buttons is too big for my taste. Moreover, four 24mm buttons over the span instructed (and I didn’t work the body that long) are not adequate, IMO, and the likelihood of the placket pulling horizontally is higher, even if it is quite sturdy. Having said this, there’s so much ease built into the pattern that this may not be an issue for those knitting this to the instructed dimensions.

• Note that I had no issues following the placket instructions for the Lulu Slipover which I used to make the button band for this cardigan. The size of the Lulu buttonholes fits 19mm buttons well. If you use the placket instructions in this pattern, YMMV. You might need to make them slightly smaller but I can’t say because I didn’t pay attention to the placket instructions in this pattern. FWIW, the Lulu Slipover recommends buttons that are 20mm in diameter.

• Hilariously, I had enough yarn even before I reclaimed 13g from the sleeves. Without the extra sleeve yarn, I’d have made it with 6g to spare. But I can make a hat or mitts with the remaining 73g. And now I have 8 new skeins of this yarn base in navy blue :-) Ah, knitting logic.

Post Blocked Dimensions:

Length from back neck to hem (not incl placket): 23”
Length from underarm to hem: 14.5”
Length from underarm to sleeve cuff: 14.75”
Diagonal length of raglan (not incl placket): 9.5”
Length of cuff: 2”
Length of ribbed hem: 4.25”
Width of placket: Scant 1.25”
Hem circ (when sweater is closed): 39”
Bust circ (when sweater is closed): 39”
Back neck opening (not incl placket): 7”
Depth from back neck (incl placket) to where the buton bands cross: 8.25”

Gauge Swatching:
Preblocked Gauge US5: 21st and 32R in 4”
Postblocked Gauge US 5: 20st and 32R in 4”

Preblocked Gauge - US 6 - 21.5st and 30R in 4”
Postblocked Gauge - US6 - 20st and 32R in 4”

Preblocked DK Gauge - 3mm - 32R in 4”
Postblocked DK Gauge - 3mm - 32R in 4”

Preblocked Gauge US7: 19st and 25.3R in 4”
Postblocked Gauge US7: 18st and 28-29R in 4”

Note: The fabric created with this yarn on a needle that’s larger than US6 is too open, IMO.

Note: this yarn rec gauge is 21-23st in 4” so it’s a heavy sport or light DK, of course, swatching will tell how large one can go with needles before the fabric loses integrity…

Patterns Considered:

Champagne Cardigan - PK - 18st and 28R in 4” on recommended needle size US7. I like the fabric I get on a US6 better / diff gauge. See if you can make it work.

REBEL Cardigan - Ankestrick - 19st and 28R in 4”

Garden Pullowver - Ankestrick - 19st and 30R in 4”

Beyul - Justyna Lorkowska - 20st and 30R in 4” - If you go with this pattern, use US6 to get slightly larger gauge but make size 1

Hygge cardigan - Liudmyla Babintseva - 20st and 30R in 4” (Doubleknit button band cardigan but not sure I love the shape) Probable pass on this.

Paul Sweater - Moreca Knits 22st rec US6 - req 1200 yards but my gauge (which gets me a fabric that I like) is larger. I could prob make the XS with this amount of yarn and I don’t really want more ease that it would provide. But not sure that I love the neckline on this. It also seems lacking in shaping. I’m going to pass on this…

Lodestar - Kjirstin Rovetta - 21 st and have enough yarn re US6 and US7 - pass on this. Just not sure I love the yoke shape…

Shifted - Justyna L - 22st and instructs 1300y for smallest size but I think I can do it with 1200 rec US6 - Pass cuz I don’t feel like knitting all over cables bottom up.

Working Girl - Helga Isager - 18st and 26R in 4” US7