Today begins the craziness that is #BANGoutatsweaterKAL and I thought I would share with you the method to my madness to Cardiganize this pullover, in case you want to join me.

I first looked at Ravelry and saw one Stopover that had some very interesting alterations to the original pattern, she was looking for more of an a-line sweater, which I think will work extremely well for me. I am not doing the identical a-line she did – but close! And, since Mary Jane put together some additional sizes late last week, sizing up is simple. I am casting on the number of stitches for the next size up plus 2 stitches and will do decreases down to the size I am. I will explain the reasoning for the extra stitches momentarily.

Stay with me here.

I wanted a very elastic, yet sturdy edge so I played with several different types of cast on edges on Saturday and the winner was the German Twisted Cast-On. I love the edge it gives and it has a good amount of stretch, but not too much and it seems like it will hold up well. And, while I am still thinking about my bind off, I found this link to the Icelandic Bind-Off and think it might just be perfect for my Lopapeysa, I will swatch with it and see how I think it works and let you all know.

I will knit the ribbing back and forth until I reach where we change to the larger needle at round 6 of the pattern. At this point I will add a steek stitch and join in the round and continue knitting. Please note, my beginning of the round will be at the center at this point. I will knit to the side and make this be my new “start of the round.” This way I will not have to steek the ribbing, making the process easier – I hope. I will do the same when I get to the neck ribbing, thereby avoiding steeking those parts as well. I will be using Ysolda’s crochet steek method that she blogged about here.

But, what about those two additional stitches? Well, then the edges of my cardigan will have mirrored knit 2 ribbing. I will not decrease these 2 stitches out, but rather leave them in my sweater as I knit the body. I have not quite figured out in my head how they will work when I get to the color work, but my plan is for them to remain cozied up to the steek stitch and they will then be part of the neck ribbing (which I will also knit back and forth) making it match like its counterpart ribbing at the bottom of the sweater.

Per gingerknitting, she did not start the decreases until she was 3-4 inches from the cast on edge – basically where the decreases in the pattern begin. I want my sweater to be the same length as hers so I will knit 4 inches and then begin decreases 1 stitch at each side every inch and a half for 9 inches, decreasing 12 stitches in total, and then knit 4 inches straight. These numbers made my math work out perfectly.

I hope this makes sense, and I will be sure to have a plethora of photos as I progress, and I hope to have this sweater completed before the next clue for Kirsten Kapur’s Mystery socks comes out on Friday. Wishful thinking, I know. But, this is all about getting this cardigan “banged” out quickly while it is still winter!

And that, Gentle Reader, is all for today, I have a boatload of knitting to do!

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