For Fall 2014, we’re doing something extra excellent here at Fringe Association. My good friend Anna Dianich and I had the urge to knit a fisherman cardigan together and settled on Amanda by Lena Holme Samsoe, from the book Essentially Feminine Knits. Before I knew it, it had turned into a knitalong with Fringe readers and featuring a Panel of Experts who are knitting in the spotlight — sharing their plans, progress and wisdom along the way. So it’s a chance to see a bunch of different knitters with differing priorities and viewpoints knit one sweater many different ways. Hashtag #fringeandfriendsknitalong
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POSTS IN THIS SERIES (so far)
To read through all of the posts in one long reverse-chronological scroll, visit or bookmark this URL. To never miss a post, plug your email into the subscription field in the right rail of the page (not present on mobile devices).
— New Favorites: Lena Samsoe’s fisherman cardigan
— The official plan for the Amanda knitalong
The precursor to this page
— Someday vs. Right Away: small-scale Amanda alternatives
A scarf and hat from the Brooklyn Tweed Fall ’14 collection for those not wanting to tackle a whole cardigan
— Meet the Panel!
Our experts show us their swatches and talk about their differing sweater construction plans for Amanda
— How to knit and measure a cable swatch
Kate Gagnon Osborn walks us through best practices for swatching Amanda and cables in general
— Hot Tip: Annotate your charts
Meg and Karen’s differing approaches for marking up the same chart
— Jaime shows us her math
Jaime Jennings lays out her approach for making her larger gauge fit the pattern dimensions
— Team Seam vs. Team Seamless
Who’s taking which approach to the body — and how!
— This just in: A perfect fisherman pullover
An outstanding pullover alternative to the Amanda cardigan
— The secret to a truly great-fitting sweater
How to think about — and correct for — row gauge issues
— WIP of the Week, week 2
… and other fun stuff
— In pursuit of sleeve perfection
Tips on pattern matching, calculating sleeve length and increasing in pattern
— Amanda panel progress report: Let’s see these sweaters!
Checking in with a few panelists who are having a newsworthy time of it
— The button band conundrum
How Amanda’s button band is written — and how else you might work it
— Joining sweater parts at the underarm: Here comes the fun!
How to assemble the parts and knit the seamless yoke
— Amanda neck shaping, part 1
In which Karen plots a shawl collar modification
— Amanda neck shaping, part 2
In which Kate shows us her extensive mods, and talks about how to reshape a crewneck
— FO Sightings: Skiff hats of the knitalong
— The simple joy of seaming
Kate shows us how to work mattress stitch
— FO No. 1: Jaime Jennings
Jaime talks about her finished sweater — and what she might do differently next time
— FO No. 2: Meg Strong
Meg tells us how she pulled off her shawl collar modification
— FO No. 3: Kate Gagnon Osborn
Kate talks about her extensive mods
— A different way to shape a sweater
A look at Karen’s back darts for creating an A-line Amanda
— FO No. 4: Karen Templer
Karen interviews herself
— Basted knitting: Or, how (and why) to seam a seamless sweater
Karen’s theory and process for adding a “basting stitch” to seamless garments, starting with the Amanda yoke
— FO No. 5: Anna Dianich
Anna talks about her insights and tweaks
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VITAL DETAILS
The pattern: Amanda (or any fisherman-style cable sweater or accessory of your liking)
The source: Essentially Feminine Knits
The schedule: Knit at your own pace, but we’ll be posting related content on the blog every week through the end of October for as long as it takes!
The hashtag: #fringeandfriendsknitalong — use it anywhere on the web you’re posting about your own progress
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HOW TO PARTICIPATE — AND WIN PRIZES!
There is no sign-up form or initiation rite of any kind — this is a super casual affair. If you want to knit along, just cast on! It can be Amanda or any fisherman-cabled sweater or accessory you like. Post about it on a Ravelry project page, Instagram, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook … wherever you like … as well as in the comments area of any of the blog posts here (linked below). We want to see what you’re up to, so make sure you use the hashtag #fringeandfriendsknitalong, and leave comments on the blog with links to your images.
I’ll be picking a favorite photo (or photos) to feature each week, starting Sept 26th and running through the end of October, and that WIP OF THE WEEK knitter will win a prize. But I can’t feature your garment if I don’t know it exists, so please link to your pics from the comments! And again, there’s no knitting schedule — you could be done in week 3 or casting on in week 8; it doesn’t matter! What I’ll be looking for is beautiful/funny/interesting/informative pics and captions wherever they may be.
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OUR PANEL OF EXPERTS
Anna Dianich, Owner of Tolt Yarn and Wool (Instagram: @toltyarnandwool)
Kate Gagnon Osborn, Co-owner of Kelbourne Woolens (Instagram: @kelbournewoolens)
Amy Christoffers, Design Director at Berroco Inc (Instagram: @savoryknitting)
Jaime Jennings, Co-owner of Fancy Tiger Crafts (Instagram: @fancyjaime)
Meg Strong, Owner of KnitKnotes (Instagram: @knitknotes)
Rebekka Seale, Owner of Camellia Fiber Company (Instagram: @rebekkaseale)
and me, Karen Templer of Fringe Association (Instagram: @karentempler and @fringesupplyco)
To see the panelists’ swatches and hear their plans for how they’re tackling Amanda, don’t miss the Meet the Panel post!
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AMANDA CARDIGAN PATTERN ERRATA
There is one published error in the size labeling of the back chart, which can be seen in this PDF: http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/109491.aspx
+ Additionally, there is a mis-charted cross. What is described as a 2/1/2 LC (2 over 1 left cross) in the Stitch Guide is charted as a right cross. If you want your sweater to look like the photos, with the left-crossed diamonds, work it as described in the Stitch Guide, despite the chart symbol.
+ There is also a missing purl symbol in all of the diamond charts. In rows 4 and 24, the 11th stitch of the 13-stitch diamond section (to the left of the two traveling knit stitches), there should be a purl dot, not an empty square. (See this photo from @stepsmakeri.)
+ Meg points out that the RIGHT FRONT selvedge looks cleaner and mirrors the left front selvedge better if slipped with yarn in back (wyib) rather than wyif as written.
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SEE ALSO
— Amy Christoffers on swatching for Amanda on the Berroco blog
— Amy Christoffers on pattern alternatives on the Berroco blog
— Kate Gagnon Osborn on cabling without a cable needle on the Kelbourne Woolens blog
— Amy Christoffers demonstrates a simple and effective tubular cast-on on the Berroco blog
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Knitting Hello Winter in Nice and knit Worsted Oyster colorway. Love it!
anyone on this KAL a newbie to knitting a aran cardigan. I have made several top or bot up in the round pullovers and only 1 bottom up in one piece to arms cardigan. Is this biting off too much at once?
unsure Stella
Are you comfortable with the cabling?
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Yes I am comfortable with cables and I am considering an Aran pattern from and old copy of vol 84 of Fisherman’s sweaters. Style 8413. Written pattern. I once had this sweater it was however too small and knitted using acrylic yarn. I would like to recreate in wool. My worry is the seaming. …I will knit per pattern.
I have finished a few inches of my White Pine, posted on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/DanaRae19/white-pine
I have decided to join. I have an Afton from BT that has been languishing in my knitting box, and this is just what I need to get going on it again. And as soon as I get the book from the library, I hope there isn’t too much of a queue, then I will begin knittign, probably with some malabrigo in my stash!!!
I’m obsessed with that pattern.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/gardeningkate/afton
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Here’s my Must Have Cardigan progress. Sadly, it’s still about this far, due to some unfortunate frogging of badly twisted cables. Sigh. http://instagram.com/p/tiwoCYqjzg/?modal=true
Ok, finally joining in. My very first: cardigan, experience with cables, knitalong, and charted pattern. Was worried when I couldn’t master a tubular cast-on despite numerous tries, but finally just admitted defeat and used the trusty long-tail and got underway, albeit just a couple of days ago. So far, the knitting experience is very different from the stockinette, in-the-round projects that I’ve done before. So much more attention/focus is required! But the result is so much more exciting. I was having a really hard time handling two cable needles for the 2-1-2 cables, but I found an alternate method that only requires one cable needle here (http://media.craftyarncouncil.com/files/CYCAKnitChartSymbols.pdf) and have been using that instead. I’ve been really grateful for the tips on chart annotation. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Trm26/amanda
Lookin good! If you tag your project friendsandfriendsknitalong, it’ll show up in results for anyone else who might be following the tag over there — http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/tag/fringeandfriendsknitalong
Great idea, done! Add “using tags” to my list of firsts. Thank you!
This week’s progress…slow and steady.
http://instagram.com/p/tqraYbSDlR/
Left panel of Amanda finished. Moving onto the right side. http://instagram.com/p/tZTVBVvDED/?modal=true
I found anothet languishing WIP which I mean to get done, perhaps in time for Xmas….
My Guilder, another BT pattern, in TONOFWOOL cormo.
I am not sure how to link from instagram,hmm will keep working on it!
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/gardeningkate/guilder
Here is another languishing WIP that I am getting out in honour of this KAL! I think it will be done in time for Xmas!
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Ok progressing and I love the cable and honeycombs. I do have a question though. I started with a sleeve. Pattern says end with same chart row as back before armhole. This is before bind offs. I don’t know when to bind off according to the chart since I haven’t started the back. This is my first project using a chart. Thanks for any help!
Oh, I guess I misled someone earlier — I didn’t think there’d be any reason you’d need to end the sleeves at the same place as front/back. But if you do want to do that, the chart won’t tell you where to do it, only your knitting will. Meaning, if you had started with the body, you’d knit to the desired length, mark down what chart row you ended on, and end on the same row for the sleeves. Since you’ve done a sleeve first, I’d say just put it/them on waste yarn for now, work the body pieces, and then once you know where those are ending for you, finish working the sleeves to the same place.
Such a beautiful weekend in Boston for grilling and knitting. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Trm26/amanda
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http://instagram.com/p/t86DqcSDvt/
I got a bit of outside knitting time today, finished the body and the ribbing for the first sleeve of my White Pine. Days of knitting outside will be numbered! Pumpkin Spice tea again, but it needed to be in a thermos, and I needed to be under a blanket. :) I love that we can view the KAL on Ravelry, it’s so fun being able to see the other projects…maybe there could be a Rav chat/share thread next time!
It’s looking so beautiful!
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Back, sleeves, left front finished. On to right front. I’m getting nervous about the finishing. My knitting is how I get through baseball playoffs! Go Cardinals!
I started my Skiff hat sitting on my window seat in the sun, and since the weather was so nice for our long weekend here (Thanksgiving in Canada), I headed to the English gardens near my house to look at the last of the chrysanthemums, knit and drink tea. Lots of progress on my Skiff hat, and on my White Pine, loving both projects! :)
Here is my Skiff hat…
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My last post was oct. 12. Oct. 30th I was diagnosed with breast cancer, had surgery, undergoing chemo. I’m having absolutely no side effects from treatments and I’ve been knitting along the way. Today February 6th I have the courage to pick up Amanda and finish. I can beat cancer and I can finish this beautiful cardigan. I’m a little nervous but it’s coming back to me how this is going to work.
Wow, Melissa — all the best to you with the treatment and the cardigan!
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Have a question about the sleeves. After ribbing and increase row and set up row it says to work in pattern til 3 1/2 inches. Is this from beginning of ribbing or the start of the chart?
That would be from the cast-on edge!
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A little late to the game, but any tips on getting the left leaning cables on the diamond segments to look less messy?
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