Champagne Cardigan by PetiteKnit

My biggest fear is making a cardigan that fits poorly. I often see cardigans that won’t stay put on the shoulders, the top button is straining under the tension of holding the cardigan together, or it is constantly falling backward and choking me. That’s why I haven’t knitted too many cardigans, but I am glad I took a chance on the Champagne cardigan by PetiteKnit. I could not imagine a more perfect cardigan.

Size

The cardigan is designed to have approximately 11 inches of positive ease and fits a bust circumference of 31.5 – 59 inches. I knitted a size L (37.5 – 39.5 inch bust) for myself and the fit is perfect!

Yarn

The pattern recommends 600 g (1296 m) Double Sunday by Sandnes Garn (ball = 50 g or 108 m) held together with 150 g (1272 m) Tynn Silk Mohair by Sandnes Garn (ball = 25 g or 212 m). That ends up being 12 balls of Double Sunday and 6 balls of Tynn Silk Mohair. However, I needed to go with the yarn from Knitting for Olive since I was short 1 ball to finish Ryan’s vest. Knitting for Olive has a standard shipping rate of €15 to the United States, and I wasn’t going to pay that for just one ball of yarn, so I needed to buy yarn for another project. This project.

Knitting for Olive doesn’t have many colors in their heavy merino, so I used their regular merino yarn and worked with two strands held together to match the Double Sunday yarn. I used 515 g (2575 m) of Knitting for Olive merino (ball = 50 g or 250 m). When held together, that comes to approximately 1287.5 m (2575 / 2) and is nearly the recommended amount of the Double Sunday. If ordering, you need 10.3 balls of merino.

I held my two strands of merino together with 137 g (1237.5 m) of Knitting for Olive soft silk mohair (ball = 25 g or 225 m). If ordering, you need 5.5 balls of mohair.

I was nervous about using a completely different yarn and for a good reason. I had to unravel my sweater two times before I got the gauge correct. This cardigan should have been done by Halloween and not Christmas.

Notions

I’m absolutely smitten with the buttons I found for my sweater. If you need unique handmade buttons, check out Haulin’ Hoof Farm Store. Most of their buttons are ceramic or clay, but they also have some lovely unique wood and antler buttons.

Gauge and Needles

For the main body, the gauge is 18 sts × 28 rows = 4 × 4 inches in stockinette stitch on 4.5 mm (US 7) needles. I don’t know why this was the first time I struggled with getting the proper gauge on a PetiteKnit pattern. It could have been the use of two strands of merino yarn. It also could have been that I’m not used to knitting back and forth. I definitely noticed tension differences between my knit and purl rows. In the end, I worked the body of my sweater on 3.75 mm needles and the arms on 4.00 mm needles. The arms are worked in the round, and I found my gauge was tighter, so I went up a needle size.

The first time I knitted the sweater, I used a 4.5 mm (US 7) needle, and my gauge was 16 sts. The second time I knitted the sweater, I used 3.5 mm (US 4) needles, and my gauge was 19 sts. I thought I was only going down two needle sizes from 4.5 mm and not three sizes. I forgot there was a 3.75 mm (US 5) needle size. I find that for each needle size, my stitch count changes by 1, so I wanted to adjust two sizes. At 3.75 mm I was able to achieve the correct gauge, 18 sts. I label my needles based on mm size and not US size, so that’s why I made the mistake I did.

For the placket, the gauge is 22 sts × 28 rows = 4 × 4 inches in double knitting on 3 mm needles. I had no issues with this gauge and knitted my placket using 3 mm needles, as suggested.

Techniques

The cardigan is worked back and forth, which can be a bit of an adjustment if you are used to knitting in the round. I already knit, holding the yarn in my left hand. When I purl a lot, like with this cardigan, it strains my left hand a bit. However, I found an alternative purl method called Norwegian purling.

Conclusions

I made zero alterations to the pattern, so that’s why that section is missing. I love the pattern. The placket detail and buttonholes are really clean and elegant. Because it is such a classic-looking cardigan, I hope to wear it for many years!