And with eighteen minutes to spare, the Argyle Kitty Kat Cardigan is finished!

Later: Pattern notes have been added after the jump.

Okay, now that she’s been safely turned in at the Easter Show, I thought I’d better record some pattern notes. This cardigan was knit out of Eki Riva Superbaby Alpaca. I probably used about six balls all together. I started by taking the measurements of a fitted hoodie that I already had. Then I knitted up a tension swatch and used my gauge to figure out about how many stitches around this thing was going to be. Since I’m still pretty inexperienced with shaping, I hunted through all my pattern books to find a garment with a similar gauge and fit. I found Dotty by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan 28. It wasn’t exactly perfect – it’s entirely in moss stitch, for one thing, and it’s a v-neck – but it was close enough.

Then there’s the matter of the argyle colourwork. I started by generating some knitter’s graph paper and then transferring it into Photoshop. Then I began scouring the Internet for argyle cardigans to get ideas. My first impulse was to do a “skull-gyle” like this one, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d rather be unique. So the Snook and I brainstormed other designs. I thought about the mudflap girl silhouette, but she wasn’t the right sort of shape. We finally found a neat retro looking cat head while browsing at Faster, Pussycat. I set to work graphing it out and playing with colours. I then sent it ’round to Amy, Bex, and Fee for advice. Finally, I broke out my trusty 3.25mm circular and cast on.

The knitting of the body was relatively straightforward, and the only tricky bit was positioning my graph so that it didn’t get eaten up by the neck or shoulder shaping. I used moss stitch for the bands, opting to ignore the buttonhole issue completely for the moment. I finished the bodice eight days later. The shoulders were joined and I picked up around the neck for a moss stitch collar band. Then came the magical puffy sleeve epiphany. I spent a day or two conferring with Bex (who’s a much more experienced seamstress) and scribbling pages of calculations. Basically, I measured around my upper arm, multiplied by my gauge, and was pleased to see it lined up with the number of stitches in the “Dotty” sleeves right before the armpit. That meant I could use the sleeve cap shaping from Dotty. I worked out that the cap was 65 rows high, which meant that all my added stitches for puffiness would have to be decreased over that distance. So I planned, and then I knitted, and then I looked it over. It seemed to be working! After knitting both sleeves, I began work on the embroidery. The white lines (along with the kitty eyes and noses) were done with duplicate stitch, while the eye outlines and whiskers were done in backstitch (with the wool split in half to be thinner). I’m really happy with how cute it turned out!

So then I just had to put it all together. I sewed in the sleeves and started thinking about buttons. With time running out, I went with a simple small black plastic shank button that I hoped wouldn’t compete with everything else. I considered using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s “afterthought buttonhole” technique, but I literally had less than two hours and the idea of snipping holes at that point just wasn’t happening. So I decided to see if I could simply enlarge a gap between two stitches enough to get my button through. It fit, but only just. So I again split my wool down to 2ply and used it to overcast and enlarge each hole. I only put five buttons down the front, and I think if I had to do it again (with more time) I’d have put more. I doubt I’ll wear it fully buttoned much anyway. And that’s it!

As for publishing, I’m really not sure if it’s worthwhile given that so much of it was inspired by other garments. It’s practically a “collage” of other pieces, really! But I’m happy with how it turned out and it’ll be interesting to see what the judges make of it…