Introducing Rosemont Cardigan

What a harsh winter we've had here in New England.  Snow, yes, as we expect, but COLD.  So very cold.  And grey.  With great pleasure I release a new cardigan pattern today in a most refreshing shade of green.  Feast your eyes!

This design was inspired by the more tailored shawl collared cardigan by Kate Gagnon Osborn of Kelbourne Woolens, the Fable Cardigan.  She suggested I design an open front, top down raglan shawl collared cardigan.  I realized, YES, I should!  The Knitbot line was missing a shawl collared sweater.  I love the comfort factor of this design.  I was thinking of it as a perfect cardigan for the brief January thaw we experienced last week.  Now it's 10 degrees outside again, and I realize it's well suited for for the frigid days, too!  

Stay tuned for more details on this cardigan, including a KAL that will be hosted by Kelbourne Woolens!

Pattern specs:

finished measurements

34 (36.75, 39.5, 42.5, 46, 49, 51.75, 54.5, 57.5, 61.25, 63)" / 86.5 (93.5, 100.5, 108, 117, 124.5, 131.5, 138.5, 146, 155.5, 160) cm at bust

Sample shown in 36.75" / 93.5cm with 3" / 7.5 cm of positive ease.

yarn 

11 (12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) skeins The Fibre Company Terra in Nettle or 1050 (1140, 1250, 1340, 1450, 1600, 1685, 1820, 1910, 2050, 2160) yards / 960 (1042, 1142, 1225, 1325, 1463, 1540, 1664, 1746, 1874, 1975) meters of worsted weight yarn.

needles

US 8 / 5.0mm

- 32" circular needle

- set of 4 double-pointed needles (dpns)

notions

Stitch markers, stitch holders or waste yarn, tapestry needle

gauge 

17 sts and 26 rows = 4” / 10 cm in St st

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A tiny Intarsia tutorial

Knitters working on the Birdie Cardigan from Knitbot Yoked have noted that the strands between graphs are exceptionally long and tricky to maneuver.  If you've found this to be true, you may like to try knitting portions of the yoke using Intarsia vs. Fair Isle as the book instructs.

I have just knitted a swatch for my KAL sweater and used a mix of Fair Isle and Intarsia.  For the border charts I stranded my yarn across the back.  Once it was time to knit my chart, which is the fox chart from the back of Knitbot Yoked, I made several small balls of yarn.  There is a small ball of Barred for each fox, and a small ball of Ecru for the space in between and on either side of the fox charts.

When it's time to switch colors and knitting on the right side, I cross yarn a over yarn b.  I then pick up and begin knitting with yarn b.  I've thus twisted the two yarns together in a way that avoids a hole between colors.  It also allows the knitting to lie nice and flat after blocking.

When purling on the wrong side it's the same: I cross yarn a over yarn b, then pick up and begin purling with yarn b.  

With these particular charts there was some white peppered in the middle of each fox chart, versus a completely solid color block.  So I had to make some decisions on certain rows about which little ball of white to use, from either the left or the right.  While there is a bit of stranding going on within each fox, the difference you'll notice is in the spaces between the charts.  There are no contrast color strands crossing these areas, it's all white space.

 For knitters working  the birds and heart charts in the Birdie Cardigan which has long spans of white space between charts, you may find this method more suitable.  I strongly encourage you to swatch both in Fair Isle and Intarsia and see which method is more comfortable for you!  

Here is my swatch with stranding between foxes, knitted using Fair Isle.

Share your findings in the Knitbot Yoked KAL group, and do let me know if you have any questions or issues!

Knitbot's Annual BOGO sale!

Last January I launched the first ever Knitbot Buy One Get One Free sale.  Here it is January again and it's official, it's an annual event!

Eligible for the sale are any of the patterns in my Ravelry pattern store.  Simply place the two patterns you would like in your cart, enter the coupon code BOGO at checkout and the discount will appear.  This offer is good thru 01/16/14 midnight EST.

What will you choose?

To view full details on all the patterns in the sale, head to my RAVELRY PATTERN STORE.  Enjoy!