Reading Cardigan - Chapter 3

By now, your needles are probably super full of stitches and getting hard to move around. Luckily, it is time to separate for the sleeves! There are several ways to put your stitches on hold, but I really like the Purl Strings. Brooke brought these in earlier in the year and I was skeptical…can’t I do the same with waste yarn and a tapestry needle? Yes, but the Purl Strings are much easier to shove your sleeve stitches on and doesn’t require a tapestry needle. (And, if you are anything like me, you like to finish your sleeves before you finish the body so you make sure you get the length just right, and the Purl Strings have a cord just for that. More on why I do that later.)

The pattern has you use a cable cast on for the underarm stitches. The cable cast on is the same as a knitted cast on but instead of going into a stitch you go between stitches. If you want a visual, I found this video to illustrate it best in this situation.

After the division row, you should have something that looks like this:

I have the body of mine on stitch holders in the photos so I could get a better look at how the shaping is working out. I also have the collar folded under at the slip stitch fold point like it will be sewn down when it is finished. You can see how many markers I have placed to track all my increases. If you did the same, you can take out the markers for the body and sleeve shaping, but leave the ones for the neck shaping. I only completed two neck increases during the raglan shaping and still have two to complete while working the body. I will want to track them until I do the buttonholes. If you plan to add the buttonholes, be sure to read through those instructions prior to starting the body.

At this point, all sizes will work nine rows of the Shaker Rib stitch, then proceed to knit the rest of the body adding the back decreases as indicated for your size and chosen length (cropped, classic, or tall).

This is where I start to knit the pattern out of order. I have knit a plethora of sweaters in my time, and I know that sleeves can have an impact on how the body of a sweater hangs and can change the way the body fits and can sometimes change how long I want to knit the body or modify shaping. I usually like to finish the sleeves of top-down sweaters before completing the body. I worked the nine Shaker Rib rows, then put the body stitches on hold while I knit the sleeves. That way I get everything the perfect length and I could decide if I wanted to do the back shaping or omit it. If you want to knit the sweater as written, continue on. If you want to complete your sleeves, skip ahead to Chapter 5 then go back to Chapter 4 when you are ready to knit the body. I will post both Chapter 4 and 5 next Saturday.