Dissecting a Pattern – Sage Cardigan
July 20th, 2008
So I’m very nearly finished with my mom’s birthday shawl, and I’ve completed all my deadline knitting for the store. This has gotten me to thinking about the [Sage Cardigan](http://lilygo.blogspot.com/2007/02/sage-cardigan-details.html) pattern that I bought a few months ago. I’ve been itching to start this sweater, and even have the yarn and swatch all ready to go. I just need to get the needles, and go over the pattern a bit.
As I was going over the pattern, and deciding if I could follow the instructions straight or neede to adjust to my size, I had a few thoughts about the pattern itself. This is a very unique pattern in that it’s about 30 some pages including line by line instructions and charted graphs for each piece. I think (especially for me) this is a bit excessive, but the charts make it really easy to write up simpler instructions. When I’m knitting a simple sweater piece, all I need to know is the stitch pattern I’m following, and when I need to do the decreases and increases. I’ve translated these very thorough instructions into something for me more like this…
Decreases = 15th, 6th 2x, 4th 9x, etc, etc
Since the front and back follow the same decrease and increase pattern, that makes my instructions even more condensed. However, I would have found the charts very handy if I had decided to mesh two different sizes together. My bust and hip measurement fit the large size nearly exactly, but my waist (as is usual) is a bit smaller than the schematics for the large. I could have altered things very visually to decrease down to the medium for the waist and increase back up to the large for my bust. I figured I didn’t mind having 1″ positive ease in the waist, so I’ll be knitting the one size.
There is one thing I will be changing in this pattern, and that is the length. I tend to prefer longer shirts for style reasons and my bust tends to lift the hem of my shirts a bit higher. Since every size has the same length measurement, I figured this choice would fit me better. It helped a lot that the designer put in a fairly detailed measurement schematic for the whole pattern so I could easily figure these measurements out. Also fairly helpful is that she has included instructions for lengthening the body. I did mention this pattern was thorough, right?
Next to the construction methods of the sweater. The body is done in 3 pieces (2 fronts and a back) and seamed up. My general preference with everything is to go seamless as much as possible, and make extensive use of circular needles. However, when looking at the photos of this sweater I think I like the seams. They add a nice line down the sides, probably add some structural integrity, and will make transporting the sweater with me as I work on it much easier. I think I can deal with my dislike of purling for this piece just so I can get it right.
Also, the sleeve and shoulder pieces are attached in a way that I highly approve. I don’t like seaming when it’s not necessary, and I will do something the long way (well, in knitting anyway) if it means getting it just right. This is exactly why I love grafting. I enjoy the process some, but I especially love it because the finished piece looks so wonderful when done. I was very happy to see that the sleeves and shoulder areas involve a lot of (oh so wonderfully seamless) grafting. It just seems silly to me to bind off two pieces only to sew them together when you can take a bit more time and do it right.
I am so excited to start this sweater, and will have to fight with myself to take my time so I do it right from the very first. The yarn is one of my favorites (Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk), the color is perfectly suiting me (light leafy green), and the sweater just looks lovely. Now I just need to sit on my hands and wait until I can get the right needles for this.
Hey, that’s a beautiful sweater. I can’t wait to see how yours turns out!