I told you about this one, a kit that I bought and cast on right away. It’s the Quintessential Cardigan designed by Churchmouse Yarns & Teas. The yarn is Jody Long Alba in the colourway, Moss. I’ve finished the fronts and the back, and made them 2.5″ longer than specified in the pattern.

I did muck up the calculations slightly. After knitting the left front, I counted the rows to space the button holes. (The pattern suggests that you place markers, then compare the right front as you knit it to the left front to choose where to make a buttonhole. I went with the strategy I know – but still messed it up. LOL) It worked out that they should be every 23 rows, but the buttonhole is made on a RS row. I decided to alternate 22 and 24 R between buttonholes, but my top bottonhole before the collar is a little higher than it should be. I should have just done 22R between each one. I’m not going to frog back to fix it. I bought the kit in another colourway – Plum – so will do the buttonholes right on that one.

This pattern has a lot of small touches that are interesting and some are new to me. They suggest, for example, some short rows immediately above the ribbing at the hem to keep the hem hanging straight. I’ve never had an issue with the hems of my cardigans, and actually, I was so busy with the buttonholes that I forgot to do it on the right front. (Not frogging back for that either.)

The front button bands are ribbed but have slipped stitches on the wrong side, again to keep the ribbing from hanging too long. It also changes the look of the ribbing, and I’m not sure I’d do that again. I might just knit the bands in seed stitch on the plum version.

So far, I haven’t found any jazzy buttons in the right size and colour, so it looks as if this one will have abalone shell buttons, which is pretty much my neutral answer to buttons.

I’m now working on the sleeves and am up to the elbow or so, knitting them both at the same time. I find that the easiest way to make sure my increases match. Progress is steady and this is good TV knitting. I should be finished soon. 🙂