This weekend I got to wear my finished Carbeth Cardigan by Kate Davies on a whistle stop tour to Amsterdam. Kate released the Carbeth jumper pattern in January, followed swiftly by the cardigan in February.
I started this in Sept, finishing by the end of October. For someone with limited knitting time, 2 months on a garment means that this is one speedy knit. The main body took me a couple of weeks and each sleeve took me a weekend. What did take me the time was the finishing. The picking up for the button bands took me multiple attempts and I'm so glad I took my time on it as I'm really pleased with the fit and the finish.
I used Kate's own yarn for this project, Buachaille, which is a 2-ply, worsted spun 100% Scottish yarn, the Squall (natural dark grey). I bought a Carbeth kit when Kate was running a newsletter subscriber discount offer. You can find the kit here. Two strands are held together when knitting. I had to go down a needle size to a 6mm for the main body in order to obtain gauge, and 5mm needles for the ribbing.
Modifications: I made 3 modifications to this pattern. The first was very simple; I added a couple of inches onto the body as I whilst it is a cropped cardigan I have quite a long body and I didn't want it to be too short. My second modification was the ncckline. The pattern does not have any neck shaping, and when I tried it on it was a bit gappy at the back of the neck so I adecided to add some shortrows at the back. Being my first cardigan, and only second garment and I've never done this before I thought I was pretty brave (or stupid) to attempt this. My knitting confidence has grown recently so I watched 30 seconds of a YouTube video on short rows and ploughed on.....till I realised that what I was doing was never going to work! Cue a confidence knockback and an almost-tantrum...... Knitting can be the best and the most frustrating thing ever! We've all been there.... I took a few deep breaths, did a little more research and got out a pen and paper. An hour, and lots of diagrams on the back of an envelope later, I'd only bloody done it! So pleased I didn't give up as it fits so well on the back now, who'd have thought 6 shortrows could have made such a difference!
The third and final modification was another altogether less stressful one. I cut out 10 rows out of the neck ribbing. The Buachaille yarn is gloriously rustic and I was a bit concerned about it rubbing round the neck. Had I not down this I probably would have run out of yarn. I also slightly changed the position of the button holes, choosing to put the top button just below the collarband.
The buttons are my absolute favourite. I bought these with the Carbeth in mind when I was at Lucy Locket Land in Sunderland in April.
All in all I'm very glad to have joined the Carbeth Clan!
Oh yes, and whats a trip to Amsterdam without a trip to Stephen and Penelope....eeeek!!!
I would love some Instruction on how you did the short rows for the back of neck! ๐
ReplyDeleteI would love some Instruction on how you did the short rows for the back of neck! ๐
ReplyDeleteI would love some Instruction on how you did the short rows for the back of neck! ๐
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