Finished Project: Adelaide Cardiganized!
As a part of the Vintage Modern Knits KAL, both Kate and Courtney took on the challenge to knit themselves their KAL sweater from Vintage Modern Knits. Kate’s “most hearted” design was the cover sweater, Adelaide, {pattern rav link} {project rav link} a Fair Isle yoke pullover knit out of Terra.
Kate’s wardrobe mostly consists of neutrals – lots {and lots} of greys, creams, and shades of blue – so she wanted this sweater to be a staple she could throw on with pretty much anything, while still creating something with a “pop” that would show off the gorgeous shades of Terra. For the main color, she choose Black Walnut, a shade of green/brown/grey with really beautiful saturation and depth of tone and for the contrast colors, she choose 4 shades of green; Sorrel, Nettle, Olive Leaf and Anemone, a grouping initially inspired by a sample of the Poplar Cowl knit out of Terra she saw while visiting Bloomin’ Yarns in March.
Taking the now-rare opportunity to knit a sweater for herself, Kate decided to make a few modifications to the design to better suit her particular needs and style. Almost an “hourglass” figure with her hips 1″ wider and a waist 8″ smaller in circumference than her bust, the basic shape of the sweater with even increases and decreases in the body, was very well suited to her shape, but her poor ability to regulate her body temperature (sweaters are worn almost year round, unless she is on the verge of dying from heat stroke) makes a cardigan much more practical for daily wear.
After knitting the sleeves pretty much to spec for the 35.5″ size, She cast on for the body as written with 2 additional stitches on either end that would be later used as the front edge where she would pick up for the button bands. She then knit back and forth, adjusting her eor to be the center front (as opposed to the side) of the sweater and working the decreases and increases accordingly. After joining the sleeves to the body in typical yoke-style, she then worked the short rows (again paying attention to the eor as written versus the eor as she was knitting).
Knit back and forth, the Fair Isle portion was easily centered and mirrored on the sweater front with the omission of one decrease st in the set up round. After knitting the yoke, she left the sts live on the needles, and using a separate smaller needle, picked up sts along the right front, knit across the neck and down the left front. The button bands were knit in one piece back and forth with mitered increases at the neck. Buttons from her favorite shop on 4th Street that match the Black Walnut almost exactly completed the sweater perfectly.
We hope you enjoyed reading about Kate’s Adelaide! Stay tuned tomorrow for Courntey’s finished Brigid (and a detailed run down of her many mods!)
Tags: cardigan, Sweaters, Terra, Vintage Modern Knits
May 16th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
It’s beautiful!
May 17th, 2011 at 1:48 pm
You make it seem so easy to do the colorwork flat! How do you do it? I too love the sweater, but would wear it much more if it were a cardigan. But steeking or doing colorwork back and forth scares me!
May 17th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Fair Isle back and forth is no biggie at all! Instead of knitting, you’re purling, and you just have to pay attention to the chart in the same way as you do when you’re knitting. If you want to try it out first, pick a pretty straightforward Fair Isle pattern with a really graphic or geometric repeat and do a little swatching so you get the hang of it, and you’ll be a master in no time!
May 18th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
This cardigan is so gorgeous it just might get me to try it… Thanks for the push to try something new!
October 1st, 2011 at 10:38 am
[...] on modifications we make when knitting for ourselves in our posts about the Brigid Cardgian and Adelaide Sweater this spring, and after reading Amy’s article in this issue of Knitscene, “Making Mods [...]