Diminishing Rib Cardigan - design notes

As with all whirlwind relationships that come to an end, when I finished up an intense three-week affair designing and knitting up the Diminishing Rib cardigan, I found myself seeking a little closure.

Yup, I'll admit it -- the cardigan sits very prettily on the model in the IK photos, and I honestly do like how it looks with the front edges hanging free, but as one Ravelry user so amusingly stated, "The neckline will not stay like that by wishes alone!"

you might not be able to tell, but I'm wishing quite hard in this photo.

So why didn't I incorporate some kind of buttonband, or waist tie, or hook/eye/loop/clasp/fastener combo in the pattern to tame that neckline? Well, when I submitted the design, I originally envisioned it in a woolier, more rustic yarn -- in fact, the pattern swatch was knit up in Rowan Kid Classic, which had a much better chance of holding its ground, with its lovely, light, velcro-y mohair content.

However, the IK editors selected Stacy Charles Savoy instead, and I'm glad they did, because the smooth drape of the wool/silk blend makes this a much more polished knit for spring. It also makes the 3x1 ribbed hems delightfully swingy. I realized this as I was knitting up the sample, but I didn't want to alter the design, as I felt the simplicity and clean lines would invite knitters to try out pattern mods to suit their own particular senses of style, and to focus on the little details that help make handknits look truly finished, such as clean cast-on and bind-off edges.

tubular cast-on and i-cord edgings

There are already a number of fantastic suggestions and beautiful examples (here and here) of cardigan closures popping up on Ravelry and Flickr. If you'd rather not knit in a closure, you might consider adding one or more clothing clasps, a wide satin sash or obi-scale leather belt (I love this one worn by misplacedpom with her gorgeous Kaino sweater), a shawl pin, or you could also reinforce the front edges with a grosgrain ribbon lining in any color of the rainbow.

One other pattern note: on the issue of underarm seams, the pattern instructions for the sleeves on the four larger sizes instruct you to pick up more than the 14 stitches that were cast on after dividing the yoke to work the lower body. The rationale for including these extra stitches is both to increase the sleeve circumference, and also to combat holes that tend to form between the front/back pieces and those 14 stitches that were cast on with the backward-loop method. If you're not sure where to pick up those additional stitches, you can either space them out as evenly as possible among the 14 existing stitches, or you can pick up two or three stitches at both the beginning and end of each underarm section, as those locations are where the gaps are most likely to appear. I always tighten up those stitches at the underarm edges when I'm weaving in the tail of the yarn that was joined to knit the sleeve, anyhow, so there are multiple ways of ending up with the proper stitch count and a nice, secure sleeve.

ribs and raglan decreases

Warm thanks to all of you who left such kind comments on my previous post -- I finally got my hands on a hard copy of the magazine, and I'm still over the moon about having my patterns included along with those of so many talented and well-established designers. If you have any questions at all about the pattern, just drop me a message here or on Ravelry, and I'll either update this post in response or start a new post for pattern FAQ's.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you find closure with your Diminishing Ribs!