FO Report: Vogue Wrap Cardigan

Pattern: Vogue Wrap Cardigan #18 by Margaret O'Leary, from Vogue Knitting, Holiday 2006
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Chunky, Chocolate Truffle
Needles: KnitPicks Options, U.S. sizes 10 and 11
Started: October 5, 2007
Finished: February 22, 2007

Modifications: Several - Fist of all, I knit the back one size smaller than the front, to help with the out-of-proportion-ness of my shoulders vs. boobage. Turns out, I probably could have knit the whole cardigan a size or two smaller and still would have been fine. To accommodate the difference in width, I decreased the fronts by four stitches on each side between the armhole shaping and the shoulder bind offs.

Next, the pattern called for casting on and knitting stockinette. I knew I wouldn't care for the rolling edges that would ensue, so I cash on and knit 5 or 6 rows stockinette, then a turning row, and then continued on with the pattern instructions. After the sides were seamed, I went back and hemmed the hems.

What else - oh, instead of casting off for the back, I kept the stitches on stitchholders. Once the fronts were finished, I did a three needle bind off for the shoulder seams. The pattern called for the center front sections to continue to be knitted for 2 1/2" more on either side, bound off, then seamed to the back neck, and finally seamed together, making a shawl collar. Instead, I knit one live stitch from the back neck together with the first stitch or last stitch on each row of the collar. When both sides were worked to the center back and all the back neck stitches were worked, I joined the two sections together with the Kitchener stitch.

No mods on the sleeves other than hemming them as I did the front and back sections.

See how long those sleeves are? See how far down the "set-in sleeves" drop? This cardigan is huge, and I've thought long and hard about what to do with it. I won't wear it the way it is. I thought about taking it apart, ripping back the sleeves to make them a little shorter, and reknitting the entire back to make it narrower, then ripping the fronts to the armhole shaping, and then decreasing from there to the shoulders to match the width of the back. However, the collar will keep rolling. For some reason, although I knew not having any kind of edging would cause the edges to roll, I didn't think it would roll quite as much as it does. Blocking did not help. It's like wearing a sausage around my neck.

Long story short, I'm almost positive I'm going to rip the entire project. I'm thinking of knitting Jared's Hemlock Ring Blanket. Or maybe I'll just design something a lot more fitted. I still want a dark brown wrap cardi, so maybe I'll come up with something. Any suggestions?