Trying for yet another mix and match summer top with the LB Cotton Bamboo Linen yarns. All for my daughter’s birthday.

Note - my tops have been shrinking an average of 3-4 inches when laundered as permanent press.

This is fine if you can plan for it from the beginning.

I am aiming for a small/medium cardigan. Since the pattern calls for a DK weight and I am using a sport weight, I am going to experiment with the large size first.

Size
I was going to add more fans but I am using an H hook (5 mm). I am starting with a foundation cord (for a nice edge). H hook, sport yarn, 131 chains = 34 in neckline. It is about 3-4 inches too big on my mannequin. Going to go from here with regular pattern.

Reading through the pattern, What the heck is “raglan style increase” mean?

42 ch sps for Row 2

Row 4 with the picots
It just looked awful trying to make picots with a 5 mm hook and sport yarn. So, I changed it.
I used 6/0 beads,opaque cream color - AJM61215012

H (5 mm) hook to crochet, 0.6 mm hook for adding bead, F (3.75) for completing the picot, back to H hook to crochet.

It’s a little fiddly but only on the picot rows. I think it’s going to look great.

Armholes
It seems that the pattern just sort of skips over how you exactly do the armhole.

Now, the work is sectioned into body and armholes, 12 for the body and 5 for each armhole. To do so, work the first 3 pattern repeats, skip 5 pattern repeats and work the next 6 pattern repeats. Then skip the next 5 pattern repeats and work the last 3 pattern repeats of the row.

Okay, all that skipping business works out fine except when you go to actually work the 1st round that does the skipping. It is a chain row that sets up for the fans. In between each fan, there is a ch 5, dc in sc, ch 5.

The problem is - What happens when you have to make 2 of those at the same time? You end with one fan and you do the middle dc thing then you skip 5 fans and you have the middle dc thing going on again. No explanation for how to handle this and no armhole measurement.

So, I held the 2 centers of fans together as if they were a seam and the 5 skipped fans were on one side. Then I did the ch 5, dc through BOTH sc at the same time, ch 5 and continue on with the next fan.

This gives me an armhole of 7.5 inches. This makes me nervous because I know my yarn is going to shrink.

I completed 1 fan row after the armholes and then I tried it on my mannequin. It’s WAY too small. It barely fits around the mannequin and the armholes are not big enough for an adult woman. This would fit maybe a grade school girl? I read in another project about how it turned out small.

I am going to have to frog everything and try making it a large. Sigh …

6/2/24 - frogged back to armholes

Armhole increase for size small/medium
Yeah! I think I found a way to not have to frog all of my work. I found a comment in another project where the lady added ch 15 in the armholes to make them larger. This adds another fan under each armhole.

Note, if I didn’t need additional stitches to shrink, I would have done a chain of ch 4, ch 5, ch 4 = ch 13 for underarm. Then when you worked over the chain, sc in 4th ch, 8 dc in ch 5, and sc in 4th chain from end. This would match up with the rest of the cardigan at ch 3 in between the fans then ch 5 for the 8 dc.

Since I need enough for shrinkage, I am hoping this is enough. I now have 9.5 in armholes. I would prefer them a bit larger but I am afraid if I make anything larger than this, then the sweater will be too big overall.

This additional fan under each armhole gives me more room for the front and back. On the mannequin it gives me 4 inches overlap in the front. I need to make some more fans to be sure, but I think this will work.

I currently have a measurement of 40 inches under the armhole. (After I have finished 2 rows of fans under the armhole.) It should shrink a bit more when it is laundered.

There is room for the neckline to shrink, too. I feel much better about making this cardigan.

I don’t want this cardigan to be too short. I am thinking about using all 5 skeins. It will just depend on how long it is when I get there. At least hip length is the goal.

1 skein thru Row 9
1 skein thru Row 14
1 skein thru the end of Row 30

• 9 fan patterns and 2 rows into 10th fan pattern
• 6 rows of fan patterns after armhole 1 skein thru Row Row 40 (just a few yards left in the 4th skein)

Used 2 containers of 1.4 oz/40 gram beads for a total of 2.8 oz/80 gr. (Just a few beads left.)

Dimensions
pre-launder
Length from shoulder to bottom edge - 24 in
width under armhole - 40 in
armhole diameter - 10 in

post-launder
Length from shoulder to bottom edge - 25 in
width under armhole - 38 in
armhole diameter - 10 in

HIndsight
It didn’t shrink as much as I expected it to shrink. Which is okay since it’s a cardigan. It definitely needs at least a few buttons for closure.