… stripes gone crazy …

This was for a long time only a sketch in my little notebook.

It took me a long while before actually tackling the idea and experimenting how I would try to work it out. After a lot of trying, knitting, unraveling, starting all over again this is what finally came out: stripes gone crazy: a seamless cardigan.

The ‘crazy stripes’  growing from small stripes to large ones on the fronts are shaped using short rows, giving the cardigan it’s fun and unusual look at the front and the full development of the design at the back.

This is the first prototype I made in the lovely Merino/Silk of Dye for Wool. The colors are absolutely wonderful but oh so difficult to catch in a photo. The main color is a very dark green, almost black. It’s name: ‘a dark storm is coming’ and the contrasting color is blue-ish with a hint of grey: ‘dark blue shadowstorm’. The next picture is as true to color as possible (at least it is on my screen)

In this first prototype there was a bit of an issue with too much fabric in one side due to all the bias knitting and all the small stripes coming together at the back. So I made a second one to try to solve that. I used Merino/Silk again (queen maab’s dreary thoughts) but combined with the Dye for Wool BFL in a very nice brown color: ‘Lost Leather Pouch‘

  

It was a really big challenge to write up a pattern and especially complicated to grade it for the different sizes. But we did it (we = all my lovely testers who were not too afraid to rip back a few rows and start again)

yeaah, youhou 😀 Thank you all so much, dear testers

Stripes gone crazy: an adventure from cast-on to bind-off.

Stripes gone crazy is a seamless cardigan worked from the top down in one piece. Starting with shaping the back and shoulders, stitches are picked up for the front and sleeves and are worked following the contiguous sleeve method, developed by Susie Myers.

Can be worn with no ease, a little negative or positive ease.
Due to the nature of the contiguous sleeve inset, it’s best to start with the numbers of the size closest to yours and add more increases for the body and sleeves, if you should want more ease.

The easiest way to lengthen or shorten the cardigan is by working more or less simple stripes before working the ‘crazy stripes’. To change the length in the crazy stripes section by adding more crazy stripes is quite difficult unless you have mathematical insight to calculate the short rows.

Available sizes: XS-S-M-L-XL-XXL: finished measurements: 28, 31.5, 35.5, 38.5, 44, 48.5” (71, 80, 90, 98, 111, 123 cm)

What you’ll need:
MC : main color: ± 650, 730, 800, 870, 950, 1050 m (710, 800, 880, 950, 1050, 1150 yards) of fingering / 4ply
CC : contrasting color: ± 360, 400, 440, 470, 500, 550 m (390, 450, 480, 520, 550, 600 yards) of fingering / 4ply

3,5 mm (US 4) circular needle and straight needles (optional)
3 mm (US 3) circular needle and straight needles
4 markers
10 buttons diameter ± 0.6”/1.5 cm

Gauge
25 sts and 36 rows stockinette with the larger needle = 10 x 10 cm (4”x4”)

See more pictures and other pretty color combi’s here on the pattern page

(It is also available in an e-book with 2 more patterns based on the crazy stripes: more on these in the next blog post)