hunting truffles.

One of the cardigans that I have coveted since starting to knit is the Truffle Tutorial – it’s kind of been my holy grail. It’s a gorgeous cardigan – and the notes Megan left were thorough and a good place to get started. There were a couple of things I was hoping to accomplish with this cardigan:

1. More of a jacket than a cardigan,

2. Tweedy, and

3. Large enough that it would fit me while pregnant & be oversized when I deliver.

Pattern: Truffle Cardigan Tutorial by Megan Rogers

Yarn: Donegal Yarns Aran Tweed in 4715 Hunter’s Green

Needles: 4.5mm (body & sleeves) & 4.0mm (ribbing) circulars

I chose to do 2 repeats of the horseshoe cable for the yoke. The cables down the front were improvised and charted as I went, then repeated.

I picked up around the long edge of the yoke for the body, worked one purl row then worked short rows across the back and top of the sleeves prior to starting the length of the body. Without the short rows across the top of the sleeves, the front hem of the cardigan would have been longer than the back of the cardigan. Instead, the short rows ‘levelled out’ the front of the cardigan. In total, I worked about 6 short rows. Megan talks about this ‘triangle’ phenomenon in her tutorial notes. I then finished the length of the yoke (9” in total – 2” of positive ease in my non-pregnant state) by worked raglan increases.

The shawl collar was worked with a series of short rows as well. I worked them mostly across the top of the yoke, then continued with the left and right fronts.

The buttons are backed by snaps for closure.

Finally, I added wrist warmers. Love this addition – I have to thank lilau’s inspiration in her sedum.  I cast on 4 fewer stitches than the sleeve was when I cast off the ribbing, which worked perfectly to fit inside the sleeve.

Overall, I am surprised how quickly this knit up – the yoke worked up in 1 day. I finished the body during the week we were away in Tofino. The button band worked up in a few days after ripping and re-knitting … many times. This entire cardigan exists because of short rows – if I didn’t know the magic of short rows (and how to disguise them), I would never have been able to knit this.

I will say, though … I will not be knitting anything with seed stitch anytime soon. I promise.