Rosemary Cardigan: Under Construction

I finished a couple of projects for gifts to give folks, so I had my mom try on her cardigan so I could see how it was fitting. I thought I’d have to make some adjustments, and man was I ever right.

The biggest problem is that it doesn’t fit her shoulders. The cross-back is just a bit too wide, so the shoulder saddles don’t sit where they should.

The cross-back width creates additional problems in the armholes, making the seams sit too low on the shoulder, and the armscye is too deep.

Which in turn makes the sleeves, which were just a little too long, waaaay too long when she put it on.

The least of my worries was the button band, where I got a little experimental and tried a different buttonhole—without really bothering to look up instructions (trying to work this from memory).

So I’ve ripped out the buttonband and separated the body and the sleeves. I’m re-knitting part of the back, to remove a few stitches. And then I looked at the pattern, which says the original was knit on size 6 needles, and I’m definitely using size 7s. My Ravelry page says I used size 7s. Since I started this more than three months ago, I can’t remember what I used for my swatch! I know I swatched. But what needle size did I use? Argh!

I ordered a set of size 6 circulars. I’m re-knitting the back to see if the gauge stays close. I’m going to re-knit the sleeves the way they’re supposed to be knit, which will be incredibly annoying because I hate knitting sleeves attached to the body, but I think it will just make fitting them so much easier. And then on to the button band revision and pockets.

I’m hoping to finish this before I leave next Tuesday, because I want this to be done, but I want it to fit my mom. If I have to finish it a little bit after the new year, so be it.