As You Like It Cardigan

As the name suggests, this is a cardigan you get to make entirely As You Like It. I don’t have a big yarn budget, so I used what I had in my stash. I designed the sweater version of this first and I used some gradient yarn, this time it was purple self-striping yarn with very long gradient colour changes which I alternated every 2 rows. You can make this cardigan out of anything you like that fits your budget and style.

Some ideas:

• Use a single colour, either solid or speckled to really show off the triangles on the side and           sleeves
• Use yarn you have to make an ombre in one or more colours, or can order 2 ombre yarn stacks like I use in my As You Like It Sweater from Colour Spun Yarn
• Make bright bold contrasting stripes in as many different colours as you like. A rainbow cardigan would look amazing!
• You can buy 2 ombre speckled/fade sets of yarn and alternate them in stripes rather than fade them together.
• This design would work as well in acrylic or other budget yarn. 

Yarn substitution: This is a very basic cardigan design so essentially you can knit it out of anything you like that has a similar yardage per 100g. This ensures that the yarn is of similar thickness. An acrylic would work fine. Different yarn will drape differently though, plant-based fibres like cotton and bamboo tend to ‘grow’ quite a bit especially in width, so bear that in mind when pick a size.

Whatever you decide to make your cardigan out of, I would love to see it. One of my greatest joys is seeing what people make with my patterns #AsYouLikeItCardigan on Instagram

This is a top-down raglan cardigan. I have included instructions for you to work out how many rounds to do of each colour if you choose to do stripes like I did in the sweater. The pattern includes sizes 30 – 62” (S – 5XL)

Picking a size: When choosing a size, decide firstly how fitted you would like your final cardigan to be. If you like a tighter fitting finished garment, pick a size the same or up to 2”/5cm smaller than your actual bust measurement. This is called negative ease.

However, if you prefer your cardigans to be a bit looser then pick a finished size up to 2”/5cm bigger than your actual measurement. This is called positive ease. The size shown in the pictures is the 38” and I am a 36” bust measurement.

The length of the cardigan and the sleeve length is totally customisable. Make something that you are going to love wearing.

Materials

Needles

Main cardigan: 3.75 mm/US 4 at least 100cm/40” long circular needle

Ribbing: 3.25 mm/US 3 at least 100cm/40” long circular needle

If you need a different needle size to get gauge, then go down 2 needle sizes from that for the ribbing

Yarn

100% Superwash Merino fingering/sock weight yarn

Sample knitted in: Nurturing Fibres; 100% Superwash Merino, 100g: 320m / 350yds

Yardage:1052 (1190, 1280, 1372, 1463, 1554, 1737, 1920, 2103, 2286, 2560) meters /1150 (1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1900, 2100, 2300, 2500, 2800) yards

Yarn Substitution: see notes above

 
Notions

Stitch markers
Stitch holder or scrap yarn
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Gauge

25 stitches and 32 rows over 10cm / 4” stocking stitch after blocking.


Sizes

Finished bust circumference 30 (32, 34, 36, 38, 42, 46, 50, 54, 58, 62)”/ 76.5 (81.5, 86.5, 91.5, 96.5, 107, 117, 127, 137.5, 148) cm

This is the finished garment size, not your bust measurement, see the notes for how to pick your size. Can be worn with up to 2”/5cm of negative or positive ease.