the fiber fetishist

I have to say, I really enjoy the way this cardigan came out. I spent the few days just before Christmas worrying about two things: was I going to finish it and would it fit my mom. Would it be too big? Too small? Too short? Too long? Was I going to have to skip the grosgrain ribbon?

Turns out that I didn’t have to worry that much about it:

Mom in Sienna Cardigan

It fits! It’s very fitted and I think it looks great on her. She seems to like it too — she informed me that she wore it to work today, which is a nice sign that she does indeed like it!

Final specifications:

Pattern:

Sienna Cardigan by Ann E. Smith, published in Interweave Knits Fall 2006

Size:

36″, but see mods

Yarn:

Rowan All Seasons Cotton in Dusky (10 balls – discontinued) and Blackcurrant (less than 1 ball).

Needles:

Knit Picks Options Circulars, US8 (or was it 7?)

Started-Finished:

7 October – 25 December 2006

Mods:

Er, tons!

I made a huge number of modifications to this pattern. I liked it overall, but there were things about it that nagged me, so I made changes.

One basic mod I made was to add the Blackcurrant trim to the sleeve cuffs and the hemline. I did this to soften and make the dark denim blue yarn look more feminine. I also admit I love contrast trim and tend to add it anywhere I can.

Another mod was to use the tubular cast on — it’s so neat and tidy and stretchy that I thought it would look great on the cuffs and hemline. I also changed the ribbing at the cuffs and hemline because when I use the tubular cast on with 2×2 ribbing, it looks messy (this is a jess-problem, not an overall one). So I switched to 1×1 rib and I also did not make it as tall as the pattern specifies — mostly due to the waist-shaping mod detailed below.

A large mod I made was to add waist shaping. I felt that the original, as nice as it is, was just a little boxier than I liked for my mom. I considered her shape and started at the smallest size — except I cast on 8 more stitches at the hip, decreased 5 times (4 st per round) for the waist shaping, then increased 3 times (4 st per round). This made the hip just slightly wider than the bust, and the waist the perfect fitted size.

I also modified the stockinette stitch pattern to a twisted stitch pattern because my mom loves texture. It gives it a very slight pebbled texture that is just a little bit more interesting than stockinette stitch.

messily handstitched grosgrain ribbon

I kept the faggoted cable the same as in the pattern and I am glad I did! I also kept the shawl collar and garter buttonbands — but since I saw how they puckered in the magazine, I opted to handsew grosgrain ribbon to the underside of the buttonbands. My handsewing is not so great, but I was scared to take the sewing machine to the cardigan, so handsewing it was.

I’m happy with the overall look of the cardigan. I am pleased with the fit of it on my mom and I am pleased that my modifications worked out and made it a bit more feminine. I think the pattern is a good one! And I will totally use ASC again — this was my first time using it and it was fantastic and washed great.

Quotable Mom said, “Oh, this is Rowan yarn? Now I think I understand why the Mason-Dixon ladies go on and on about Rowan in the book!”