A step by step guide to knitting the Faye Cardigan. 

Ever gotten half way through a project and thought “Hang on, am I even doing this right?”

We have 🙋‍♀️

That’s why we’ve created these step by step guides to walk you through the knitting process. 

THE BASICS

If you're a total knitting newbie - WELCOME! 👋 Learning to knit can feel a bit like learning code. We've stripped away the complicated jargon and tried to keep things really simple so even the newest knitter can master the skill 🧶

Before we get started on the pattern it’s a good idea to learn the basic stitches you’ll need to complete your masterpiece. You can use the yarn that came in your kit to practice with. The video below covers every technique you'll need to learn (spoiler - there's only 5!). Learn how to cast on, do a knit stitch, a purl stitch and put them together to create a rib stitch, lastly, we learn casting off. Once you've got these mastered you'll find this pattern is a cinch! 

💭 For more detailed videos of each technique, head down a little further where we've got specific videos for each stitch type.

🚨 While the Faye is knitted in Mohair (not Merino as shown in the videos) the techniques are exactly the same 🤓 👩‍🎓

YOU'VE GOT THIS ⚡️💪

Remember learning a new skill can be a little challenging at first, and you’re bound to find yourself making some mistakes along the way. But as with learning anything, your brain and your hands slowly start to get the hang of it, muscle memory is created, and soon the thing you found tricky/daunting/scary is like second nature! 

If you get stuck, reach out to us and we'll give you a (virtual) hand! 😎

TEST YOUR TENSION

Before you start your project, you should make sure your tension (how tightly or loosely your knitting is) is juuuust right 🥣 We do this by knitting a “tension swatch”. It's a bit like goldilocks, if the tension is too tight, your piece will be too small, and if it's too loose it may not hold its shape and might be too big. 

If done correctly, your 10x10cm knitted swatch should be 8 stitches high and 11 rows wide when knitted on 12mm needles. To test this, jump on your 12mm needles and cast on around 16 stitches, then knit in stockinette stitch (row 1 knit, row 2 purl) for around 12 rows. Then use the card that came in your kit to measure 10x10cm and count your stitches and rows to make sure you're knitting at the correct tension.  

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Your kit comes with everything you need to knit your masterpiece. 

• 10mm circular needles 
• 12mm circular needles 
• 10-13 balls of our Chunky Mohair yarn (depending on the size you're knitting)
• Darning needle 

THE TECHNIQUES YOU’LL MASTER

CASTING ON

Casting on is the first step in any project. It's the term we use for getting the wool onto our needles! We recommend using the two-needle technique as it's one of the simplest methods. Two-needle cast on uses your two needles (surprise!), starting with a slip knot on your left needle, each stitch is knitted to form a new loop and this loop is then added to your left needle. You repeat until you’ve made the desired number of stitches. 

💭 Casting on, like many things in knitting, can be done in a number of ways - our suggestion is a simple technique but you can pick any that’s right for you. 

KNIT STITCH 

This handy little stitch makes up the backbone of most knitting patterns. Each knit stitch looks like a little ‘v’.

PURL STITCH 

The second most common stitch, purl stitches look like little bumps (or purls!). You knit a knit stitch with your yarn tail at the back of your work and your needle going into the back of the stitch, the purl is the opposite, so your yarn tail is at the front of your work and your needle goes into the front of the stitch. 

RIB STITCH

A rib stitch is a textured pattern usually used on the cuffs and necks of jumpers. It’s made by alternating knit and purl stitches in the same row, then knitting the same stitch sequence in the next row. 

KNITTING IN THE ROUND

Knitting in the round is where we use our circular needles and knit continuously in loops, rather than back and forth in rows (like a lot of beginner patterns do). Now don't worry! It's not anywhere near as hard as it sounds. When knitting in the round, you're always knitting on the "front" side of your work so you don't need to turn the piece to knit on the "back" side. Plus, you don't need to sew the piece together at the end! 

REDUCING STITCHES

We reduce the number of stitches on our needle by knitting or purling some stitches together. This simply means we put our right needle into the second stitch on your left needle and collect both the first and second stitch and knit them as you would a single stitch. 

CASTING OFF

To cast off, knit two stitches then slip the first stitch on your right needle back over the second stitch and off the needle. You’ll have one stitch left on your right needle. Knit another stitch so you’ve got two stitches on your right needle and then slip the first stitch off. Continue to the end of the row. When you’ve got the last stitch on your right needle, cut the yarn and thread this through the final stitch to secure. To see casting off in action watch our "Master The Basics" video above. 

OKAY, LET’S KNIT UP A STORM! 

 

 SIZING

You can knit the Faye in sizes from 6 to size 24. Your pattern is read like this: 6-8 (10-12, 14-16, 18-20, 22-24).

CHUNKY MOHAIR

We knit our Chunky Mohair double strand. This means you have two strands on the go at once. To start with, we suggest pulling one tail from one ball and one from another. As you get more confident you can work with one ball if you like, you'll just use both ends of the ball. 

💭 🚨 Now, a little word of caution when knitting with two strands. It's a lot easier to put your needle through your stitch in the wrong place when you're knitting with two strands. If you do this you'll end up with more stitches on your needle than you've cast on 🤯 We recommend counting your stitches every few rows as you knit to make sure you haven't added any rogue stitches. If you have, and it's picked up quickly, you can knit two stitches together on the next row to get back to your correct number of stitches for the piece. 

Here's what knitting double strand looks like when you cast on. 

BODY

We start by knitting the body of our cardi. We cast on stitches for the full width of the body and knit this piece flat (meaning we knit back and forth). You'll have a lot of stitches in your needle but that's okay! 

Step 1:

Cast on the required number of stitches using your 10mm circular needles.

Step 2:

Once you've cast on the right number of stitches you move on to the rib. Knit the rib following the instructions in your pattern. Remember to create a rib we knit 1 stitch, then purl the next. Make sure you’re moving your yarn tail from the back to the front of our stitch to ensure the stitch is executed correctly. 

Step 3:

Next, we move onto using our 12mm circular needles and into stockinette stitch. 

To switch to a different size needle we just hold the new needle (in this case the 12mm circular needle) in our right hand and knit onto the stitch on your 10mm needle in your left hand. Simple! 

We knit the required number of rows in stockinette before we knit our first stripe of the contrast stitch.

Remember to tick off a circle for each row you knit to help you keep track of your knitting. 

Step 4: 

This is the contrast band row, so you'll knit this row. 

Step 5:

Repeat the sequence as instructed.  

Step 6:

We're going to split the work now, so we knit up the back and the front panels separately. Knit the allocated number of stitches. 

Step 7: 

Flip your work over and we're going to work these stitches again. The other stitches will just hang out on your needle until we're ready to come back to them. 

Step 8 - 10: 

Continue knitting in stockinette stitch as you knit up the first front panel.  

Step 11: 

Cast off the stitches you've been working. That's the first front panel done! Well done 💪

Step 12:

Attach your yarn to the first of the stitches you've got left on your needle. You'll want to pick the side that means you'll start with a knit stitch - so the 'v's should be on the side facing you. 

Knit the allocated number of stitches for the back panel. 

Step 13 - 16:

Continue to knit up the back panel in the same way you did the first front panel. 

Step 17: 

Cast off those stitches. That's the back done. One more section to go for the body! 💪

Step 18: 

Rejoin your yarn to the stitch closest to the ones we just cast off. Again, you want the little 'v's facing you. Knit the stitches left on your needles. 

Step 18 - 22: 

Keep knitting in the same sequence you followed for the last 2 panels. 

Step 23: 

Cast off those stitches and that's the body of your cardi done. Well done! You've only got the sleeves to knit and you'll be finished🔥

SEW YOUR SHOULDERS

Before we move into the sleeves we're going to sew the shoulders together. Grab your darning needle to sew the shoulder seams together using the invisible seam technique - demonstrated in the video below. 

SLEEVES

 Onto the sleeves. You'll do two of theses too 😎🧶

 We knit the sleeves in the round from the top, and down to the cuff. 

 

Step 1: 

Using your 12mm needles, we'll pick up the allocated number of stitches from around the arm hole. The below video demonstrates this technique on a neckline but the process for the arm holes is the same. 

💭 Make sure you use a stitch marker to keep track of the number of rows/loops you’ve knitted. A stitch marker can be anything round; a ring, hair tie or a spare piece of yarn. 

Step 2 - 7: 

We're knitting in the round which means we knit every row except the purl rows to continue the contrast stitch band. This should be a cinch by now! 💪 

Step 8: 

To get the shape in our sleeve, we're going to decrease some stitches before we knit the cuff. You'll knit two stitches together all the way along the row. 

Step 9:

Once that’s done you'll swap to your 10mm needles to start your rib stitch for the allocated number of rows. It's a little tight knitting in the round with so few stitches, but if you keep moving the work around the needles it will make it easier. 

Step 10:

Cast off your stitches. When you cast off make sure it’s not too tight otherwise you’ll have a really tight wrist hole! 

The last thing we do for every piece is weave in the ends. That’s basically just tidying up the piece so all loose ends are trimmed down and tucked in.

FINITO! You are done! 💪🔥🥳

Time to rock that baby out and about 😎

We'd 💕LOVE💕 to see how you go! Share your masterpiece with us by tagging @cardigang_knits on socials or by sending us an email at hello@cardigang.com.au 

Until next time! 😘🧶

Morgan & Cat xx