Yellow Saltburn Cardigan

In my monthly perusal of The Knitter (courtesy of my local elibrary, blessings be upon them) I came across Saltburn (rav link), a long-ish gansey-style jumper with a fun textured pattern of diamonds and zigzags. I’d recently snagged some nice tweedy yarn in a delightful shade of mustard yellow that needed something textured, but not too textured, and so I thought this might fit the bill.

I just didn’t really fancy another jumper, so I decided to convert it to a cardigan, and also make it a bit shorter as that suits me (and the rest of my wardrobe) a little better. A v-neck front and a set of snazzy buttons would finish the look. So, to cardiganise I divided the front stitch count by two (and added one stitch to make sure the pattern could be centred), and knit to the arms. There, I started the V-neck at the same time as I started the underarm decreases, and ended up decreasing one stitch every 3 rows, stopping when I’d reached the same number of stitches as the shoulders for the original pattern. I think this is the best v-neck shaping I’ve managed on a cardigan, after I don’t even know how many tries, so I’m quite pleased with it.

To get the right length, I cut a whole diamond repeat, and I also shortened the sleeves a little by just starting the sleeve cap shaping as soon as the increases were done - the original pattern had some straight rows in between the two, but I’m not entirely convinced on the maths/gauge they did there. I also accidentally gave it a split hem because I was looking at the sleeve instructions when working on the front ribbing, making it a little longer at the back than the front… but I like the look.

And here’s another example of my craft hoarding coming good; I bought these buttons ten years ago, and they’ve been sitting in my button box ever since just waiting for the perfect project. I think it was worth the wait.

Something I experimented with on this project was crocheting my seams together instead of sewing them. As with many other (most?) knitters, I’m not the biggest fan of seaming, but I also don’t really like seamless construction - knits made that way seem more prone to stretching and twisting, particularly when working with acrylic or superwash yarn. These ones feel fairly sturdy, and give a nice sense of structure to the finished item. I have a past make with extremely fragile seams that I might have to pick apart and redo with this method, on the theory that two strands of yarn per stitch are better than one.

And here’s the finished item, which I have immediately pressed into service. In fact, I almost made myself late for work by prioritising sewing my label in over leaving for the train. I made it though! Extending my streak of wearing at least one hand-made item to the office… and of nobody noticing. Sadly. I’m taking it as a compliment though - my work clearly looks far too professional for it to be hand-made.