Wild Mohair cardigan
by Gralina Frie Knitting this mohair cardigan is a really quick and fun project. Weaving in all the Yarn endings, not so much. But you can finally use up a lot of saved single skeins from your stash. And get a wonderfully soft and unique cardigan that will go with just anything!
NOTIONS :
Yarn: some of your old-time favourites from your stash, doubled, tripled or plain - lacy yarn in different materials in light grey or white nuances, thick black mohair, grey alpaca and off-white chunky wool mixes. For the main contrast colour block, find some fancy multicoloured bulky yarn in your stash and another one to mix it up with. Pick any plain coloured Aran weight yarn for the borders. Just make sure to use the border yarn doubled here and there IN the cardigan as well, to make it blend in better. Yardage: For a plain cardigan using one-three threads 400-500m each for body yarn. If you're knitting the multicoloured version - you will obviously need a lot less, but please make sure to have at least 200m each for the larger mohair/lace areas. Working borders alone requires 100m of plain Aran yarn. Needles: US 8 - 5mm and US 17 - 12mm, circular or straight. Tapestry needle. Stitch holders, scrap yarn or separate circular needles. Gauge: approx. 9 sts per 10 cm/4" - measured over a swatch knit in stockinette sts with a few of the yarn qualities you want to use. Measurements: Chest = 88-90 cm/34.5-35.5". Sleeves = 47 cm/18.5". Length = 55 cm/21.5". This might be a bit short for your taste, if so - just add 5-10cm/2-4" to the body before dividing for fronts and back. Cardigan is designed to be worn open. No buttons. lorked bottom-up in pieces. Stockinette stitch and 1xl rib borders
Please read entire pattern before you start!
Colour blocks:
Sorry, no chart provided. The drawing on the last page shows a general idea of how I did it. I tried to be as inaccurate as possible, building colour blocks every now and then to avoid the sweater from becoming just "stripy". Make a couple of running sts evenly spread over the cardigan if you like. A runner is made by adding one stitch, working it along with the others and eventually - after let say 10cm - slipping it and let it run down to where you added it, leaving huge loops and making it look soooooo punk. For the second version - after reading TECHknitter's brilliant suggestions for weaving in endings - I decided to go for the overlap-method (by at least 4 sts) or 'join as you go'. This was the only method clearly not suitable for changing colours...but I found it quite perfect for this project. This way I got the colour blocks uneven with No effort. And I could cut the endings.Whohoo! tos are @ Gralina Frie 2012. Please contact me if you'd like to sell this pattern or items made from this patterr
BODY
With larger needles and waste yarn, Co 80 sts. Change to one of your working yarn combinations and work even in St sts until piece measures 30 cm/12" (or more, see above). Bind off for armholes on the following RS row: kl9, BO 2，k37， BO 2,kl8. This leaves you with 19 sts each for the fronts and 38 sts for the back. Slip back and right front sts onto a spare (circular) needle and finish left front piece first (since your working yarn is in position for doing so): Left front: work even until piece measures 5 cm/2" from armhole. Shape a slight V-neck by decreasing at centre front on every 3rd row by either: RS row: k until 3 sts left， k2tog， kl Ws row: pl, p2tog, p to end Repeat until 14 sts remains. Work straight up until piece measures 21 cm/8.25" from armhole. Break yarn. Slip live sts onto a stitch holder. Right front: as for left front BUT work decreases like this (i e mirrored): RS row: k1, k2tog, k to end WS row: p until 3 sts left, p2tog， pl
Back
Work even across back sts until piece measures 2l cm/8.25" from armhole. K 14, BO 10 for the neck, k 13 (= 14 sts each for shoulders)． Turn and join left shoulder seams using a 3-needle BO. Break yarn. Repeat for right shoulder.
SLEEVES
Using smaller needles and border yarn, Co 36 sts and work in 1xl rib for 6cm. Change to larger needles and body yarn. Knit across, decreasing 6 sts evenly on this first row = 30 sts. Work even in St sts until sleeve measures 40 cm/15.75" ending with a WS row. Next row: kl， ml, k until l st left, ml, kl. Work even until sleeve measures 47 cm/18.5" or desired length. B0 all sts. Repeat for second sleeve. Join sleeve seams, pin and sew them into the armhole. Make sure the armhole doesn't get too tight. A good reference point is to aim for a 20 cm/8" armhole.
FINISHING
BORDERS
Lower hem: remove scrap yarn from the provisional Co and slip live sts onto smaller needles. Using border yarn and RS facing， \*knit 3 sts, Ml\* repeat from \* until 4 sts remains， k4 = 104sts. Turn and work 1xl rib for about 5cm. BO as loose as possible, or use a lxl rib cable BO. Fronts and neck: using the same needles and yarn as for lower hem - starting from Co edge of left front and RS facing - \*pick up and knit 1 st for each of the first 2 rows, skip one row\* repeat until beg. of body sts， pick up and knit l st for each row along the side of the left front, l0 sts for the neck, repeat directions for right front as for left front except mirrored. Next row: work a lxl rib like this: \*work 4 sts, ml\* repeat until you've reached the back sts. Increase 8 sts evenly (work 2, ml） for the neck.Repeat directions for right front as you work across the left front = approx. 180 sts. Work the border for 3.5cm. Bind off loosely in rib, working the first 2 and the last 2 sts together. Weave in endings - unless you overlapped the threads by at least 4 sts. It is suppose to look a little bit trashy, don't be too accurate. Perhaps you need some blocking of the border, otherwise - put it on and enjoy the massive Wow-impact!!Good luck! tos are @ Gralina Frie 2012. Please contact me if you'd like to sell this pattern or items made from this patterr Very easy colour block scheme (All measurements in cm)
tos are @ Gralina Frie 2012. Please contact me if you'd like to sellthis pattern or items made from this patterr
Yarn
Rowan's kidsilk haze in off-white (l.5 skeins) BC garn's Alpaca flamé in 02 /grey (0.5 skeins) Rasmilla's Yndlingsgarn in beige (l skeins) Vikinggarn's Eco alpaca in off-white (o.5 skeins) combined with kidsilk haze in off-white Hjertegarn's Milano in off-white (0.3 skeins) Drops' Vienna in black (0.3 skeins) Tedman & Kvist's Chunky Chiq in green/brown Black portions: Colour portions: Brown: Colinette Calligraphy Castagna (0.3 skeins) Camel coloured mohair yarn (origin unknown) combined with kidsilk haze (offwhite) Petrol/blue-ish bulky mohair bouclé/loop (origin unknown) Malabrigo's Arroyo in 855 Aguas
Substitute yarn
lace weight mohair/silk/wool in off-white light fingering alpaca/wool in light grey lace weight cotton/wool in beige/off-white bulky (eco) alpaca in off-white lace weight mohair/silk/wool in off-white bulky mohair in black bulky thick-n-thin/bouclé/loop wool blends in the colour of your choice (for ex.brown or petrol) aran/worsted wool blends in this colour scheme lace weight yarn of your choice to combine with the aran/worsted yarn
