The Olympian, Herculian Cardigan...

I had my mother around t'other day and measured every bit of her I could think to measure, and then sat down and adapted a pattern torn from a magazine circa 1979 (am I really that old?)(Do I hoard things?)(see I KNEW it would come in handy). Question - if you change the yarn, and therefore the tension, and the needle size, and make it shorter and fiddle about until the instructions are totally different, does the pattern become my own design as the original was only used as a reference, as an inspiration? The original was called 'Pebble' - so I've called mine 'Boulder', because it's bolder and also because of the matriarchal tribe from Lijiang in China called the Naxi. The Naxi minority's matriarchal influences extend to their language: Nouns enlarge their meaning when the word for female is added, and conversely, the addition of the word for 'male' will decrease the meaning, eg. 'stone' + 'female' = boulder, 'stone' + 'male' = pebble. Good innit?
OK - the Pattern, which I will scribe here so it will not get lost on the scrap of paper I've scrawled on and I can print it off when I like.

'Boulder', to fit my mum, bust size 54"/138cm.
knitted in Collinette Prism, Blue Parrot - please let there be enough yarn because I won't be able to match the dye lot and the shop I got it from no longer sells it.
needles size 4 1/2 + 5 1/2 mm

Back With 4 1/2 needles, Cast on 101 st, rib k1,p1 for 6cm
last row increase 9st evenly along row,
(rib 10, inc 1 by picking up loop between st and twist and knit)x9, rib 11, (110st) Change to 5 1/2 mm needles.
Knit straight in stocking stitch until work measures 34cm
Armhole shaping: Cast off 17 st. at beg. next 2 rows (76st)
Continue without further shaping until work measures 22" (56cm)
Shoulder shaping: cast off 10st beg next 2 rows, leave remaining 56st on stitch holder.

Pocket linings x2 : Using 5 1/2 mm needles cast on 24st. Beg. K row, st st 26 rows. leave st. on stitch holder.

Left front
with 4 1/2 mm needles, cast on 47 st and rib k1/p1 for 6 cm increasing 4st evenly along last row: rib 10, inc 1, (rib 9, inc 1)x3, rib 10 to end (51st)
change to 5 1/2 mm needles.
Beg knit row, st st until work measure 20cm,
Pocket opening row: k 15st, place next 24 st on a stitch holder and with right side facing, k 24 st of one pocket lining, then k last 12 st.
Continue in st st until work measures 34 cm. ending p row.
cast off 17 st beg. next row.
Continue straight until work measures 19 1/2" or 50cm ending K row.
Neck shaping: cast off 12 st. beg next row, purl to end
work 1 knit row slipping last stitch without knitting.
cast off 2 st beg next row. purl to end.
then dec 1 st at neck edge every row for next 4 rows.
Work until front matches back - cast off.

Right front
work same as left front but reversing all shaping. (cop out ay?)

Left Sleeve
Using loop method from 'The Encyclopedia of Knitting Techniques', cast on 73 st with 5 1/2 mm needles.
row 1: knit all stitches
row 2: purl 47 (k2, p4)x4, k2
row 3: knit all stitches
row 4: purl 47 (k2,p4)x4, k2
row 5: (k2, cable 2 forward)x4 k40 TURN
row 6: Purl 40, (k2,p4)x4, k2

(I thought the short rows might give the sleeve a bit more shape. Be interesting to find out and might mean a bit of frogging).

continue as set until sleeve measures 49cm (ensuring finish on 6th row of cable pattern) and then graft stitches together to form a tube.
Using 4 1/2 mm circular needles or dpns, pick up and knit 24 stitches from around cuff end - rib k1/p1 for 16cm and then use single rib castoff technique like shown in earlier post because I've finished my socks and that cast off is really elastic.

Right sleeve same as the other one, but in reverse (so the cables go the same way).

Take the 24 stitches along tops of pockets and rib (for as long as you want!) cast off - sew down edges and pockets.
Sew cardi together.

Pick up and rib neck.
Rib button and button hole bands and sew in place. Sew on half a dozen buttons.

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting

and do it all the time. While finishing a

piece is the plan, you still love the

process, and can't imagine a day going by

without giving some time to your yarn.

Packing for holidays involves leaving ample

space for the stash and supplies. It can be

hard to tell where the yarn ends and you

begin.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla