Featherweight Cardi Tutorial: Part 1
Featherweight is worked from the top down.
Increases are made on every right side row until you are ready to divide the sleeves from the body.
Here is how I made my increases:
M1: lift the bar between the stitch just worked and the stitch you are about to knit from back to front. Then knit through the front of the stitch. One stitch increased.
NOW, for all you perfectionist knitters out there, yes, you can also M1 by lifting the bar from front to back and knitting through the back of the stitch. Depending on which way you lift the bar, the stitch will slant in one direction or another. Here is where I make a confession: I am lazy sometimes. There, I said it! So in the case of this much loved cardi, I worked all my M1’s the way I described above.
If you would like to be a more perfect knitter than I, here is some additional help.
For an increased stitch that slants slightly to the right, lift the bar from back to front and knit through the front of the stitch. Work this increase 1 st after the marker.
For an increased stitch that slants slightly to the left, lift the bar from front to back and knit through the back of the stitch. Work this increase 1 st before the marker.
Next tutorial: tips for working sleeves in the round
April 17th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I have been thinking about these paired increases ever since you posted this–I think I’m particularly distracted by them because I can never keep track which m1 slants to the left and which to the right, and which I should use. So when you say use the increase that slants slightly to the left, and use it 1 st before marker–do you mean 1 st before you come to the marker as you knit across the piece from right to left? or 1 st before the marker as you look at it (left to right)? Or am I picturing things backwards because the cardigan is knit from the top down,and so that’s why you would want an increase slanting to the left on the right side??
I was always the kid in ballet class doing piourettes on the wrong leg, and I still have problems visualizing left/right. And like you said, it’s not really a big deal–I’m almost done with the raglan increases and they look fine (i’m very excited about this cardigan). It’s just something I’ve been puzzling over!
April 21st, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I love this cardigan , but I am rather on the bosomy side and was wondering what kind of shaping you would suggest, because as it is this pattern is just a wee bit too boxy for my body.