Pinkaboo Dollar

My Dollar and a Half cardigan is done, and I'm quite happy with it. Although I've made a number of tops before, this was my first cardi. Even though I reduced the sleeve length by only doing 2" of ribbing instead of 4", they're still quite long - down to my knuckles like in the pattern photos. When I blocked the body of the sweater, I pulled it out more widthwise (reducing the overall length), which I wouldn't do with the sleeves because I wouldn't want them any wider than they are. So they ended up being about the same length as the pattern, when I'd planned on them being a bit shorter. But it's actually okay - I can wear them as is, or turn up the cuffs at the ribbing if I want them a more standard length. I actually like the sleeves both ways.

Sorry I don't have a photo of me wearing it yet - my photographer is out of town until late tonight, but hopefully I'll have one on my blog within a couple of days.

I even found some buttons that are a perfect match - almost exactly the same color pink, with a lighter pink swirl in them, so they really match the yarn's highlights and shadows. They're 3/4" instead of 1" as called for in the pattern, but the buttonholes didn't really seem large enough for 1" buttons anyway.

Pattern: "Dollar and a Half Cardigan" from Interweave Knits Spring 2007, designed by Véronik Avery

Size: 36-1/4"

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in "Pinkaboo", 6 skeins (I had about 1.6 ounces left of the last skein.)

Needles: US 7

Modifications: Made two cable fronts, with the cables mirrored, and knitted only 2" of ribbing on the sleeve cuffs instead of 4". The sleeves stretched a lot, so I could probably have reduced the total length by 4" instead of only 2". Also, when I picked up the stitches for the neckband, I picked up about 2 stitches for every 3 rows, which ended up being the same stitch count as the pattern indicates to pick up for the smaller size. So I just followed the pattern for that size instead, and it worked out just right.

Tips: The increases and decreases in the lace were tricky, but it helped to realize that there should never be a YO right next to the first or last stitch in a row. I found it very useful to keep a list of what round the decreases should be on, and the number of stitches I should have after each decrease. When decreases for the lace fall on one of the PSSO rows, the easiest way to deal with it is to knit that row normally, and omit the last YO on the next row.