New Pattern - Silfa Cardigan July 28, 2016 19:07 4 Comments

Seamless knitting is somewhat of a passion of mine. Is it obvious? Maybe you're wondering what the big deal is about seamless knitting, or maybe you've tried it and love it as much as I do. If you haven't ever knit a seamless sweater, let me tell you what I love about it.

Oh, and before I forget—be sure to leave a comment below to enter to win a free pattern! There's more info about this later…

Now, here's what I LOVE about seamless knitting:

#1: There are no pieces to sew together.

Now, that may be obvious, but it has to be said. It's a HUGE reason why I love to knit using seamless techniques. Instead of seaming pieces together, there are other ways of constructing sweaters that avoid knitting in pieces and seaming. Which brings me to the next reason I love seamless sweater knitting:

#2: The construction can be really fun!

There are some seamless sweater constructions that can get really interesting (like Homa), and others that are pretty similar to typical seamed sweaters (like Silfa—my newest pattern), but use special techniques that join pieces together as you knit, rather than seaming later. It can be almost magical to watch a sweater form in front of your eyes using some seamless techniques.

#3 The possibilities are ENDLESS!

I know that this can be said about knitting in general, but because my passion is for seamless knitting, I'm also really passionate about figuring out new ways of constructing sweaters. I believe, without a doubt, that everything is possible, and that carries into knitting as well as life.

So, here's what's new: Silfa!

While some sweater patterns can be really have a lot of out-of-the-box thinking, I didn't stray far outside the typical sweater construction box for the Silfa Cardigan. The body of Silfa is knit from the bottom up, in one piece to the underarms. It begins with a provisional cast-on. If you've never tried this type of cast-on before, I highly recommend checking out my photo tutorial of the provisional cast-on. You can thank me later. ::wink::

The reason I used a provisional cast-on is so the hem can be folded in half, and the live stitches on the needle can be simply joined to the cast-on edge seamlessly.

At the underarms, the back and front are divided and knit separately to the shoulder (one at a time, while the unused stitches are on stitch holders).

At the shoulders—instead of doing stair-stepped bind-offs to shape the top of the shoulder as you would see in a typical sweater—some short-rows are worked (eek! Short-Rows!!! Don't worry—their instructions are super clearly written out, and they've been tested by knitters like you!), then the back and front shoulders are joined using the three-needle bind-off technique. If that's something new to you, here's my three-needle bind-off photo tutorial.

For the sleeves, stitches are picked up from around the armhole openings, and knit down to the cuff in the round on double-pointed needles. The sleeve cap is shaped with short-rows. Ack! More short-Rows?!? Yes, but really—the instructions are clearly written out step by step, and if you really need my help (like, after you've tried everything you can think of) you can contact me. The benefit of knitting the sleeves from the top down like this is that you can try them on, and adjust the length to match your body if necessary! How cool is that?

Once the sleeves are knit, the last step is picking up stitches around the front of the body, binding off then attaching some buttons. I also recommend wet blocking (aka washing) your sweater and laying it flat to dry, but however you do that is really up to you. That's it! You're gorgeous sweater is ready for you to wear out on the town, or to work, or food shopping… wherever! Can you hear the compliments now? And what a great feeling of accomplishment.

If you want to get started right now, here's the pattern.

And, if you sign up for my e-mail newsletter, I'll send you a coupon code that you may use to save $1.50 off (that's over 20% off)! The coupon code expires on Monday August 8, 2016.

Did I mention the pattern is written for sizes 30" / 76 cm through 54" / 137 cm? Here's the schematic to show you all the possible measurements you would want to know about this sweater. I recommend about 1–2" of positive ease, but some negative ease at the bust would look great too, so long as the waist circumference feels comfortable. Which size would you make?

The Silfa Cardigan is a great opportunity to learn some new things, try out seamless knitting (or indulge in something you love to do), and you'll have a great new sweater when you're done.

Leave a Comment:

Where would you wear your Silfa Cardigan?
What color would you knit it in? In what yarn?

I'd love to hear from you! Leave your comments below for a chance to win a coupon code for any free pattern from my Ravlery store! I'll draw the lucky winner on Monday, August 1, 2016. Good luck, and happy knitting!