When Emily Greene’s cardigan pattern Ply first showed up on Ravelry late last year, I liked it but didn’t quite love it somehow. But then at Stitches West she came walking into the booth wearing it and I was instantly convinced that I want it in my closet. It’s a pretty simple V-neck, stockinette cardigan, but the details (especially all those doubled facings and hems) make it special. Officially in my queue.
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Totally agree with you. Love the folded hem and diagonal pockets.
But still, it is knit in a DK weight yarn with 3mm needles and gauge is 25 st = 4”, so I’ve always wondered how does the final fabric feel like, and if it not too stiff nor heavy.
What is your feeling on the subject ?
I say ‘swatch and see”. since everyone’s gauge is a little different, as is the effect of round vs. square needles…swatch!
I’m quite used to the difference between metal needles and wood needles, but it would never occur to me to try square needles ! Good tip, thanks !
When I asked her what gauge it’s written for, she said sport weight, and we talked about how my stash of Ysolda’s Blend No.1 would be perfect for it. So I guess the sample yarn must knit up at sport gauge? I didn’t actually pet or fondle it at all, but it hung and moved beautifully.
Thanks Karen, all the comments below are also talking about sport weight yarn. The fiber type (which breed or fiber, how it is spun, etc.) must also be very important to have the good drape.
Yes, it’s interesting — both of the test knits are in sport weight wool yarns (Ysolds’s Blend No. 1 and Quince Chickadee), even though the pattern writeup on Ravelry recommends DK weight wool-silk blends. I really love how the Chickadee looks, personally! (https://www.ravelry.com/projects/katieemma/ply)
So I’m wondering if the original yarn (which is in the Ravelry database but not linked to the pattern, and in the YarnSub database but listed as worsted with a slightly different fiber content!) is maybe a bit quirky… Perhaps eventually the yarn recs will be updated to reflect the test knitted samples? The only one of the existing recs that I’m substantially familiar with is Sincere Sheep Luminous DK, and it knits up beautifully at 6 sts/in but I haven’t tried it at 6.25… as usual, only one way to find out!
For a minute there I thought it was a Brooklyn Tweed pattern based on where the photos were taken, but then again, who doesn’t love a photo shoot on a Brooklyn street? Interesting details on the cardigan.
It’s very polished.
This is appealing for a number of reasons- the tailored-look details and the relatively straight-forward stockinette work and the density of the knit. This suggests to me a fairly structured garment– Did you find that to be the case?
It definitely has a lot of structure to it, with the folded hems and facings and side panels and hemmed pockets and so on.
Swoon!!!! Just added.
And now it’s in my favorites too!
Oh, those tidy hems and pockets! Swoon!
I tried leaving a comment earlier regarding the questions on gauge and yarn substitutions earlier, but since it hasn’t appeared (apologies, Karen, if I’m just bombarding you with duplicate comments to moderate!), I’ll give it another go, since both the specifics of the sample yarn and my needle sizes are somewhat unusual –
According to Ravelry’s database, the Brooks Farm yarn I used for the sample is a DK, but my skeins were labelled ‘Sport weight’, which I would say is a more accurate description. Their label recommends gauges of 4.5-6 sts per inch, on US 3-7. I do like my gauge to be pretty dense for garments, and 6.25 sts/in looks and feels lovely in this yarn – it still has plenty of drape, but doesn’t feel too loosey-goosey or fragile, even with hands/phones regularly shoved into those roomy pockets.
My test knitters used Quince & Co.’s Chickadee and Ysolda’s Blend No. 1 , which are both sport weight yarns, and met pattern gauge easily – after some experimentation with needle size.
On that front, I always list the needle sizes *I used* for the sample on my patterns, but I should probably add a note about this to the pattern page. I am (evidently) a very relaxed knitter, so many knitters will need to go up a size or two to achieve pattern gauge. In this case, where I used a US 2.5(3mm) needle for the main fabric, my testers used US 4(3.5mm) and US 5(3.75mm) needles.
Of course, as a designer my fervent hope and prayer is that all knitters will swatch diligently to find the right personal combination of yarn and needle size that will give them a fabric they love at this gauge, but….. ;)
(No worries — first one must not have gotten submitted!)
I want to thank everyone here who read my comment and questions, and took the time to answer !
I feel very grateful to be part of such a lovely and supportive community, so thank you Karen for having built it, and thanks everyone for having shared your thoughts and experience on that subject !
Thanks for the very helpful info! I was wondering if maybe your personal knitting tension was on the laid back side, but I never like to accuse another knitter of being loose ;-) I support you in your taste for denser fabrics. It’s my personal belief that many sweaters are knit at too loose a gauge, which can really hamper their longevity and wearability. Those super cool pockets are going to run the risk of serious sadface droopiness without a sturdy fabric backbone, so I hope people won’t shy away from a denser gauge in this pattern.
That Brooks Farm yarn must have varied over time, because it’s listed with pretty different specs in different places. I know that for designers, it’s hard when the yarn you knit your sample in (and which may have inspired the whole project!) turns out to not be widely available, or has an identity crisis. Hopefully as more people hear about this lovely pattern, they’ll try it in different yarns and we’ll all have more data to draw on! As I mentioned above, I’m already smitten with the test knit in Chickadee… that tailored matte-ness would be insanely wearable for me, more so than a glossier yarn.
Hi Emily, thanks for the reply. It is always precious and very interesting to have the thoughts of the designer on such a subject. I’ve never knit very dense, but I admire the result and admit your design looks much more structured and polished than any other long cardigan. This what caught my eyes first when it was released.
Just FYI – I’m knitting this now and I’m a really relaxed knitter. To get gauge (and my gauge is still slightly larger than the pattern calls for), I’m using a fingering yarn (albeit a robust fingering – Quince Finch) on a US 1.5 (main pattern) and US 1 (for double knit sections). I love dense fabric, particularly in a cardigan but for me to get dense fabric, I always end up on a tiny needle. This is very enjoyable to knit! Beautifully written instructions.
LOVE the pockets and the dense fabric. I am with Emily about dense knit for garments. All those patterns I have knit that turn out to be loose fabric, end up being parked or given away. Cardigans are supposed to keep us warm, RIGHT?
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