The last time I wrote about my Aidez Cardigan was when I was ripping out the back piece, after realizing that it was just coming out entirely too small. I am substituting yarns for a lighter weight yarn, and my teensy tiny swatch really wasn’t good enough for me to see how off my gauge really was. The pattern gauge was given in stockinette, while the majority of the back panel of the sweater is knitted in a cabled pattern, and we all know how differently cables behave than stockinette anyways. Honestly, I should have thought things through and swatched a little more carefully, but I was just anxious to get started. (Famous last words of a knitter, right?)
My back piece was coming out 14” wide, and for the pattern size small, it should have been 20” wide. I checked my gauge (now that I had a HUGE gauge swatch) and determined that if I followed the numbers for the pattern size XXL at the gauge I was getting, my back piece would come out 20” wide- exactly the size I needed it to be. I’ve since ripped, reknit and completed the back panel and when I measure it against a well-fitting shirt, it is pretty much dead on for the size I am aiming for.
Over the weekend, I cast on for the left front panel of the cardigan, which uses different cables than the back piece. I am again in love with the cables that are coming off my needles and I can’t stop putting my work down every few minutes to admire it. This has to be the best part about knitting a cabled cardigan in pieces—it never gets boring because as soon as you get used to a cable pattern it’s time to start on another piece!