This cardigan was most definitely a case of the yarn telling me what it wished to become. I had a sweater quantity of white cotton acrylic and a giant cone of unlabelled pink mohair, which when held together knitted up into the prettiest fuzzy fabric. A couple of swatches later and I’d decided on Berry Stitch, and since the stitch pattern flowed so nicely in and out of rib, frilly cuffs seemed like the way to go. I figured that with pink, fluff, and frills already in the mix I may as well go full on cutesy and choose a cropped look too. That was the design pretty much set! Luckily it all came together nicely and I’m super happy with the finished item.
Scroll down for details and to download the Pink One Cardigan knitting pattern
After initially styling this cardigan in a toddler-esque fashion with smock dress and frilly collar, I’ve actually found it to be really wearable in a more dressed down way: with sweatpants and slippers. Looks cute! I’m a big fan of cardigans worn on their own with no layers underneath, and this fabric feels super soft against the skin.
Almost all my projects are referred to as ‘the pink one’, ‘the green cardigan’, or ‘the brown vest’ whilst on the needles. Naming is a tricky step, and one I often leave to the very last minute. On this occasion, I thought it suited its name as simply ‘The Pink One’ so figured why waste more time scratching my head when its working title does the trick. Makes slightly less sense when knit up in a different colour but hey ho.
Test knitter roundup
Meet The Pink One, but in blue, green, brown, red, neutrals, purple and yellow! I am a firm believer that poofy fun sleeves are for everyone. Huge thank you to all the test knitters who made such wonderful cardigans and helped make the pattern the best it can be!
Introductory discount
You may have seen that The Pink One isn’t the only pattern I’m releasing today – the One That I Want Crop is also now available. For the first 48 hours (until 2pm GMT on Monday 29th March), I’m offering both patterns for a discounted total price of £11 when purchased together. This discount is available via Ravelry (where it is automatically added), and here on my blog via Payhip. This discount only works when The One That I Want Crop is added to the cart first, so click through to that blog post if you’d like to receive the discount via Payhip! If you click ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Add to Cart’ on the crop top post, you’ll see a popup offering a 43% discount on The Pink One cardigan, which brings the total to £11. The discount isn’t available on Etsy.
The Pink One Cardigan knitting pattern details
YARN: DK weight yarn, quantities for both cropped and longer versions as below. To recreate the marled effect in the sample, use a strand of a light DK / sport weight yarn held with a strand of fine mohair. Sample used Rico Baby Cotton Soft DK, a blend of 50% cotton and 50% acrylic. You will need approximately the same or slightly less yardage of mohair.
Cropped version: 1098 (1221; 1332; 1417; 1579) (1617; 1721; 1822; 1924) metres / 1201 (1335; 1457; 1550; 1727)(1768; 1882; 1993; 2104) yards. If using sample yarn, you will need 9 (10; 11; 12; 13) (13; 14; 15; 16) balls.
Longer version: 1264 (1407; 1529; 1638; 1800) (1852; 1966; 2083; 2196) metres / 1382 (1539; 1672; 1791; 1968) ([2025; 2150; 2278; 2402) yards. If using sample yarn, you will need 11 (12; 13; 14; 15) (15; 16; 17; 18) balls.
GAUGE: 20 sts and 29 rows to 4” / 10 cm in stocking stitch on 4mm needles, blocked.
NEEDLES & NOTIONS: 4mm / gauge size needles of your preferred length for working the body flat and the sleeves in the round.
3.5mm needles for hem and buttonband (ideal length 30”+).
Small needles (eg. 3mm DPNs) for working cuffs – see Notes for choosing cuff needle size.
5 buttons (cropped) or 7 buttons (longer) of approx. 13 mm diameter
Spare circular needles for working 3 needle bind off
Waste yarn
Tapestry needle
SIZING: 1 (2; 3; 4; 5) [6; 7; 8; 9] detailed below, designed to be worn with between 8 – 10 inches / 20 – 25 cm positive ease. Sample shown is a size 2 worn on a 34” bust with around 8” / 20 cm positive ease.
To fit bust: 28-30 (32-34; 36-38; 40-42; 44-46) [48-50; 52-54; 56-58; 60-62] inches / 71-76 (81-86; 91-97; 102-107; 112-117) [122-127; 132-137; 142-147; 152-157] cm.
Finished bust: 38 (42; 46; 50; 54) [58; 62; 66; 70] inches / 97 (107; 117; 127; 137) [147; 157; 168; 178] cm.
Construction: this cardigan is worked seamlessly from the bottom up. Stitches are cast on at the hem and worked in one piece to the underarms, where the back and fronts are then divided. Gentle decreases shape the front neck, whilst the armholes are left without shaping to produce a relaxed drop shoulder fit.
A 3 needle bind off is used to join the shoulder ‘seams’, which produces a neat visible ridge on the outside of the fabric. Stitches are picked up around the fronts for the buttonband. The sleeves are worked from the top down by picking up stitches around the armhole. Berry Stitch is used throughout the sleeves, except for a nipped in cuff worked in 1×1 rib.
Yarn choices: the marled effect in this pattern is created by holding together two strands of differently coloured yarn, in this case a bright white DK with a hot pink mohair. This means that the fuzzy halo is a different colour to the base yarn. Of course choosing 2 different shades of yarn isn’t a necessity, but it does work particularly well for the Berry Stitch pattern on the sleeves. The DK used in the sample was on the finer side (probably nearer to a sport weight), so if using a thicker DK, adding mohair will likely produce a worsted/aran weight that is too thick for this pattern. I would recommend omitting the mohair if using a thicker DK.
Length: there are 2 length options for this pattern: a cropped length with waist shaping (shown in sample), and a slightly longer length without waist shaping. The pattern for each version is written separately until the bust, from which point both versions are the same.
The Pink One Cardigan knitting pattern is also available via Ravelry and Etsy.
Lily Kate x
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