Strand Up

Strand Up Cardigan by Cheryl Chow

What Is Being Made

Strand Up is a stranded colorwork cardigan pattern designed for knitters seeking an advanced project. This downloadable PDF pattern provides instructions for creating a fitted cardigan with button closures, available in 11 different finished sizes ranging from 33 inches to 53 inches in bust circumference. The cardigan features a finished length between 22.75 and 25.75 inches depending on size selection, with the pattern intended to be worn with 1 to 2 inches of positive ease for comfortable fit.

Techniques and Skills Required

This pattern is classified as intermediate to advanced knitting and requires proficiency in multiple specialized techniques. Knitters must be comfortable with stranded colorwork, which involves working with multiple yarn colors simultaneously to create intricate patterned designs. The pattern specifies two methods of stranded colorwork execution:

• Knitting stranded colorwork flat (in rows)
• Knitting stranded colorwork in the round (in circular rows)

Additional required skills include 3-needle bind off for joining sections, picking up stitches for adding button bands and other edgings, cable cast on for secure foundation edges, and working buttonholes for closures. The pattern also incorporates short rows for shaping and requires competency in decreases and increases for proper garment construction. Knitters must be able to read a chart to follow the stranded colorwork design accurately.

Stitches and Construction Methods

While specific stitch abbreviations are not detailed in the available pattern information, the construction relies heavily on chart-based stranded colorwork stitching combined with standard knitting increases, decreases, and bind-off techniques. The use of 3-needle bind off indicates sections are likely worked separately and then joined, a common method in cardigan construction. Short rows are employed for shaping the garment, particularly useful in creating fitted armholes and necklines.

Yarn and Materials

Strand Up is designed to be worked in sport weight 100% wool yarn in four colors. The main color requires between 745 and 1200 yards depending on finished size, with contrast colors requiring significantly smaller yardages: Contrast 1 ranges from 145 to 230 yards, and Contrast 2 ranges from 115 yards upward. This multi-color yarn requirement creates the distinctive stranded colorwork pattern throughout the cardigan.

The pattern calls for specific needle sizes to accommodate the sport weight yarn and stranded colorwork technique:

• Size US3 (3.25mm) 32-inch circular needle for button bands
• Size US3 (3.25mm) double point needles for sleeve cuffs
• Size US4 (3.5mm) 32-inch or 40-inch circular needle (40-inch for larger sizes) for the main body

The use of multiple needle sizes allows for proper gauge in different sections of the cardigan, with smaller needles creating tighter, more defined edges and the slightly larger needle accommodating the stranded colorwork body without excessive fabric density.