Coffee Bean Corran Cardigan

Pigskin Party Notes:

Bag – Pro Shop Sponsor non-exclusive, AdoreKnit

Markers – Pro Shop Sponsor non-exclusive, Fibernymph Dye Works

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11/14 – I saw the coffee bean stitch version of this sweater on the It-Is-a-Sarah podcast, and I really liked it! I’m not big on all-over lace texture as the pattern is written, but I really liked this faux cable/eyelet motif. I’ve done a legit swatch using US7 needles, which is currently drying, but I think that was the right needle size for a pleasing fabric for me. I’m not 100% sure about the bottom ribbing being on a US6 though, as that seems like it might be too tight. I didn’t swatch the ribbing, though on my swatch I did garter borders, so maybe I’ll go with that for the sweater too? We’ll see.

I’ve had the yarn in my stash since 2018. I’m actually not entirely sure I’ve found all of it that I have, because I’m finding 15 balls and I thought I had more than that (considering that I was 65 lb larger back when I bought it), but I’ve got more than enough to make the sweater a little longer than the pattern says and with long sleeves. I’m planning to do the V-neck version.

Hopefully I’ll get it cast on over the weekend once my swatch is dry and I can do the math to see which size will work best with my gauge.

11/16 – I ended up with 27 stitches over 5.75″, which is a gauge of approximately 4.7 stitches per inch in the coffee bean stitch. The pattern’s gauge works out to 3.5 st per inch, which is a huge difference. To yield a 49″ (ish) cardigan, I’m going to cast on 225 st for 47.8″, then the button band will add the final inch or so. Right? :thinking_face:

I also think I’m going to do the bottom band in garter stitch because I like how it looks in my swatch. And I won’t need to change needles.

12/6 – I have about 2″ more to go on the body before splitting for the back and fronts. I’m thinking about blocking the bottom part first to see how much it’s going to grow and if the length will be sufficient before moving on.

1/30/25 – I finally picked this back up to work on after it languished over the holidays and most of January. In my mind, I thought I was closer to splitting for the sleeves than I actually was, but based on my notes (assuming I didn’t update them the last time I worked on it), I did still have at least 2″ to add.

After figuring out what I’d been doing (because why write reminder notes when you’re going to be ignoring a project for a while?? :face_with_rolling_eyes:), I added the remaining length and have now split for sleeves. The body is approximately 17″ at this point.

My choice of doing the bottom band in garter stitch looks very wibbely wobbley right now, but I’m pretty sure that will be somewhat mitigated once the sweater is blocked.

2/5 – Have knit both fronts and am on the back now. It became clear that I was going to need to modify the fronts so there was shoulder shaping, otherwise I think the top of the sweater was going to be too bulky as a drop shoulder. I did a series of bind offs from the outer shoulder edge on both sides – 5 st, 5 st, 8 st, 8 st, the rest of the stitches. I know the pattern calls for leaving the shoulders on the needles and presumably doing a 3 needle bind off or something, but I’m just going to be grafting. I think this will be fine. I’m hoping now that the arm hole depth will be ok too, which I think it will because it was going to be too big prior to this mod. Will do the same shaping on either side of the back once I work the necessary length.

2/9 – I finished the back a couple evenings ago, duplicating the shoulder shaping from the front, and then I seamed the shoulders. IT FITS PERFECTLY. I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

I decided to do the button band before the sleeves, as I wanted to have good stability for knowing how everything was going to lay. I vaguely picked up stitches as called for in the pattern (5 for every 7 rows and one for every bound off stitch at back of neck). I did choose to do a 1×1 rib band instead of garter that I did at the bottom. It’s fine. I placed 4 button holes but made them binding off 2 stitches for each. I think the pattern only called for one. I didn’t know what buttons I’m using on this yet, but a 2 stitch button hole seemed a more reasonable size for the button size I imagine I’ll use.

I didn’t really follow the pattern for the button band, just the pick up count. I know there was something in there about a collar ?? but maybe that was for the round neck? I don’t know. I’m really happy with the one I knit, there’s a wee bit up pulling up at the bottom fronts, but it should block out fine.

My next decision is what to do for the sleeves. If I do the in the coffee bean stitch, the coffee beans will be upside down since it’s being worked shoulder down. I am considering doing a 3×2 rib instead, though I’ve also thought about starting the sleeves cuff up and seaming them to the drop shoulders. I need to think on that because I’m not sure how I’d gauge the number of stitches I’d need to end up with. :thinking_face:

2/10 – I decided to just pick up at the arm holes and do the coffee bean stitch. Seemed like the best first try. I did about 3″ on one sleeve and hated it. I feel like it looks really bulky. I thought about ripping it out and blocking the rest of the sweater to see how the fabric is going to pan out, and then re-thinking my sleeve options, but now I’m not sure. Maybe I just suck it up, knit the sleeves, and block the whole thing together and let it be what it will be? Sigh. :confused:

2/26 – Technically, the knitting has been done since last week. I did do the coffee bean stitch on the sleeves, and after blocking the sweater, the pattern opened up beautifully all over and I love how it looks. The sweater itself fits perfectly from the waist up. The bottom part, however, ended up blocking out about 5″ longer than I expected it to, and I need to try and re-block it to hopefully give it a slight A-line shape from the waist down so that it doesn’t hug my hips like it’s doing now. I also still need to put the buttons on, and the sleeves are a little too long. I can fold the cuffs up for now, but eventually I think I’ll rip them back and make them shorter.

Overall, I’m really pleased with how this turned out. As long as I can get this length issue mitigated, things will be good. Being a bottom up sweater, shortening it will be a real hassle if that’s what needs to be done, especially since the button band is NOT coming off…it is perfect and I’m pretty much against pulling it out. Plus, the coffee bean stitch really hides the rows that just have knits and purls, making it pretty much impossible to thread a needle along a row and snip to remove a portion of the bottom of the sweater fabric. :/