Finished Object Review: Military Cardigan

Since the temperature dropped last week, I’ve finally been able to pull out some of my knits from last year. I thought it would be fun to showcase some of my favorites on the blog. I mean, it COULD be cheating, because I haven’t actually finished the objects recently, but if I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t know 😉

sniped from the ravelry page (link below)

So, to start us off, I’m going to show you one of my proudest moments. At the beginning of last year, I saw the Veronik Avery pattern Military Cardigan SOMEWHERE (where exactly? I have no idea) and HAD to make it. After obsessing over it for a week, I ordered the book, Knitting Classic Style (Ravelry/Amazon/BN), and set to work looking for yarn. I started thinking about grey, especially because it generally looks good with jeans (which is pretty much all I wear during the winter) and because I don’t really have any grey sweaters. After a bunch of hunting around online, I settled on Valley Yarns (the webs’ house line) Stockbridge in a dark grey color. The Alpaca content of the yarn gives it a ton of softness and drape, but the structure built into the pattern really fits it well. And thus, my Military was born.

my yarn, pretty close on the color

This is one of those patterns that was a bitch to make, but not because things went wrong. I mean, I could tell going in that it’s a really complicated pattern, and I was pretty prepared for the headaches that it would cause, which was good, because I did get those headaches. But still, eventually I ended up with a finished sweater with relatively few mistakes. I mis-crossed a couple of cables, but I think I tinked them all back- I haven’t found any in the finished sweater, at least. At some point, I got really confused about the difficult directions for the button band and collar. I actually emailed Veronik, and she got back to me so quickly, assuring me that her numbers were right, and that there was some magic that would happen as long as you followed the pattern. Which I did, and it did happen. Also, the pattern calls for you to cable on both knit sides of the rib along the button bands and collar. Of course, I didn’t realize that this is so you’ll see the cables where the collar is turned up until AFTER I had finished it (without cabling on the inside). I think that’s why my collar is a little more shape-less than the sample seems to be…but I’m not really concerned about it. It takes a little bit away from the whole severe-military aspect of the cardigan, and makes it more comfy, which isn’t exactly a problem.

isn't the collar a little flatter?

The other thing that makes the cardigan seem a little bit more comfy is the yarn choice. As I mentioned, Stockbridge has quite a bit of drape. I can’t remember if I modded the sweater to make it longer, or if it’s just the drape in action, but it definitely comes much further down on my waste than the sample does on the model. Again, not a problem. Jeans made for girls my age are pretty low cut, and any sweater that will keep my undies from showing is a good thing!

close up on those gorgeous cables

Unfortunately, the Alpaca is so warm that I can’t really wear the sweater on a regular basis. Unless the room is freezing, I pretty much burn up in it. And the double-breasted buttons aren’t really conducive to taking the sweater on and off every time I leave a room, especially if I am wandering around campus… which is something I usually do. Still, this is my go-to sweater for going out in the cold, and I like to think it came out spectacularly!

from the side- the drape+shaping+vents=flattering!