This one should have been finished this weekend but I hit a snag.

I’m stuck on the last four stitches of each button band.  After a few hours of trying all sorts of ways to finish those darn stitches I gave up. It will have to wait until Jean can show me the proper way.

Normally finishing an invisible cast off isn’t difficult but the ribbing on this cardigan is a tad different than normal. Instead of starting and ending with two (or three) knit stitches mine starts and ends with four.  Jean suggested doing this when I mentioned that my first and last buttons seemed too close to the top and bottom edge.

I’ll go ahead and sew on the buttons this week after I have a chance to steam the bands into shape. It looks a little curled. I shouldn’t have gone down 1mm in needle size and decrease 10% of the picked up stitches.

About working the button band …

stitches were picked up along the front edges and knit back and forth. Here’s one more hint about how it was done – the short rows are done between the holes.

So for now I’m on to a new project, the v-neck cardigan. Here’s what I got done today on the long car trip home from Winthrop.

It’s Rowan Wool Cotton on 3.75mm needles. The stitch pattern and idea is from an old Kim Hargreaves’ pattern called Alice (in The Ultimate Knitter’s Guide by Kate Buller).