Wallis Cardigan

Completed: May 2008

Pattern: Wallis, Interweave Knits Summer 2008, by Melissa Wehrle

Yarn: Ella Rae Silkience (49% Cotton, 39% Modal, 12% Silk, 8% Rayon), #13, 7 x 119yd/skein

Notes:
This was a fun project. Double knitting makes a very interesting texture at the bottom of the cardigan, and the cast-on method was neat. I also like the front edging treatment that takes advantage of stockinette’s inherent curl.
The pattern has a few issues, though. There were a few times when it would direct you to work on a wrong-side row when you were actually on a right-side row, or vice versa. The diagram implies that the double-knit portion should be the same size as the bottom of the stockinette portion, but mine flares out–I’m not sure if this is my error or the pattern’s. For the left front, doing row 43 as written makes some purl bumps visible on the front of the garment, so I did that row the way the directions were written for right front instead.

The only modifications I really made were to the sleeve. I did not like the look of stockinette curl on the bottom edge of the sleeve and wanted something that would look a little more tailored, like the rest of the garment. Also, the original sleeves ended up looking pretty huge on my frame, so I had to make them smaller and shorter. Here is how I did the sleeves:

CO 67st with smaller needles using cable cast on

Starting with RS, do 2 rows of stockinette

Switch to larger needles, then do 1 row of reverse stockinette, followed by 7 rows of stockinette, omitting decreases

Shape cap according to directions–31 sts remain

Purl 1 WS row

* k1, k2tog, rep from * to last stitch, k1

Then complete cap as directed