April 2010 Somehow the idea of making a ‘bigger’ project like a cardigan has always remained daunting to me. Maybe it’s because I’m always scared it won’t fit well after all the hard work. However when I saw the Kelmscott pattern I was intrigued and wanted to make it.

I did some research on Ravelry of all the Kelmscott’s that have been made and decided to make some modifications:

• front and back knitted together
• inspired by Ratte’s Kelmscott I wanted to use the edging over the back part instead of using the pattern provided for the back and sleeves. I used the chart until row 16 and then changed the knit stitches at the beginning and end of the pattern to reversed stockinette stitch. This solution will also prevent the reversed stockinette stitch from curling up, which might have happened if I left out the pattern.
• decreases and increases on the right side
• sleeves knit in the round on circ needle with magic loop

While in the past I never really bothered to make swatches (not that urgent when knitting a shawl), I decided not to take any chances with this pattern. I thought this article was helpful.

Swatching turned out the be a really good thing. When using size 6/4 mm the gauge was correct but the fabric looked tight and even after washing felt less drapey (right swatch). On the other hand when using size 7/4.5 mm I ended up with 18 stitches per 4 inch in stockinette stitch (left swatch). So I decided to make the pattern in 37” / 94 cm with needles size 7/4.5 mm and hope it will turn out as a 41” / 104 cm.

June 2010 Knitted all the pieces. The pattern isn’t hard to follow. I did have some problems with the decreases along the neckline, which is easier by writing the number of decreases and remaining stitches for each row.

July 2010 Somehow seaming the whole thing together is something I experience as most difficult. The seams of the sleeves and body turned out a bit ‘wide’ but since the collar hangs over it, it doesn’t show that much.

• The buttonband was made following the directions of twoswallows

• The buttoncovers turned out way too big when I followed the notes in the pattern. So I made them smaller, only crocheting up to 12 stitches, then slip stitching in the round for 17 stitches before starting the decrease.