Flutter Sleeve Finished

Project Stats:

Pattern: Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from Spring 08 Interweave Knits by Pam Allen
Needles: Size 3, 6 and 7 straights (and circulars for when the back got too big for straights)
Yarn: less than 7 skeins of Knit picks shine in Fedora (dark brown)
Size: 36" bust
Mods: None

I sewed on the buttons last night, and my flutter sleeve cardigan is currently soaking in a nice bath, waiting to be laid out to dry. That picture of the back that I posted? Yeah. I ripped that. It was too long. So, I knit the back twice and everything else once. I enjoyed knitting this sweater and I enjoyed the yarn too. It's soft and it doesn't catch too badly on my needles. I think the fiddliest part of knitting this was the neck and sleeve shaping on the fronts. Basically, you are supposed to do two or three things at once and ended up writing out what to do on each line so that I didn't get lost. There were some other fiddly details: the button bands are started with the fronts, then the stitches for the button bands are placed on a holder, then knit separately later and sewn on. Probably the most daunting aspect of the sweater was figuring out how long the button bands should be, when you are supposed to "stretch slightly" to get it to fit the sweater, especially since once you knit the first band, the second band with the button holes must match it. I ended up using lots of pins and trying to sew very precisely. Lastly, once you think you have finished knitting you must then knit the cuffs on and then knit the tabs for the cuffs and sew those on as well. The fiddly little details make this sweater a bit of a challenge to finish, but they also make the sweater interesting and pretty.

I tried on the cardigan last night before it was blocked and it is pretty. One of the best things about the design of the cardigan is the use of the short row shaping around the bust area. Basically, the short rows create bit of a "cup" for your breasts. This works quite well since women aren't flat in the front, but rounded. Very nice detail. I also really like the seed stitch border and button bands. I think it adds a nice, feminine, detail to the cardigan. I think this is going to be a really beautiful work cardigan for me, with a pretty camisole underneath.