THE AMY
Your step-by-step guide to making your masterpiece
Hey there, stitch superstar! You’ve just unlocked the secret sauce to making your very own Amy Cardigan, and we’re excited to be stitching it out with you.
This guide will be your BFF through the entire journey. Whether you’re brand new to knitting or just here for a refresh, we’ll take you from “how do I hold these sticks?” to “look what I made!” — one cosy row at a time.
Heads up! You'll need the physical pattern that came in your knit kit as well as this online guide. The pattern contains the specifics, this guide gives you the extra layer of detail.
INCLUDED IN YOUR KIT
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT (Or CLOSE ENOUGH!)
Before we dive into the good stuff, let’s warm up those hands and needles. Think of this like stretching before a workout, except comfier, cuter, and way more fun.
Grab some of the yarn from your kit (just a little, you’ve got enough to spare!), and get familiar with the motions. Try out the stitches you’ll be using in this pattern. This is your time to mess it up, try again, and feel things out — no pressure, no judgement, just you and your new fave hobby.
Bonus: practising now = fewer headaches later (trust us on this one).
Slip Knot
Casting On
Knit Stitch
Purl Stitch
Cast Off
TEST YOUR GAUGE
Once you’re feeling comfy with the stitches, it’s time to check your gauge. We know, we know — it sounds technical, but it’s really just about making sure your tension matches the pattern.
Why? Because different knitters = different stitch tightness. And we want your finished masterpiece to fit like a dream.
So grab your measuring tape, knit up a little swatch (there’s a guide for that at the link below!), and let’s make sure you’re on track before the main event begins.
How to test your gauge
THE AMY CARDIGAN
If done correctly, your 10x10cm knitted swatch should measure 7 stitches wide, and 9 rows high when knitted in stockinette stitch on your 15mm needles.
SIZING AND MEASUREMENTS
You can make your cardigan in five sizes. Your pattern is read like this; 1 (2, 3, 4, 5). Depending on the size you ordered you'll follow the corresponding number.
It can help to highlight the numbers that correlate to your size in your pattern before you begin. The circles are also there you help you keep track of your knitting. The dashed circles are for the larger sizes.
Measurements are taken when the piece is laying flat. Width is from one side of the body to the other. Height is from the shoulder to the waist band.
| Pattern Size | AU Size | Yarn Balls | Measurements |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6-8 | 6 | 60cm wide x 48cm height |
| 2 | 10-12 | 6 | 64cm wide x 50cm height |
| 3 | 14-16 | 7 | 68cm wide x 52cm height |
| 4 | 18-20 | 8 | 72cm wide x 54cm height |
| 5 | 22-24 | 9 | 74cm wide x 54cm height |
Repeat after me:
“I solemnly swear to knit bravely, unpick calmly, and pretend I meant to do that.
I accept that chaos is part of the craft, and possibly part of my personality.
I will finish what I start… eventually.”
Your cardigan is made in three phases, we start by knitting the body, then we add the sleeves which are knitted in the round, finally we add the ribbed button band.
THE BODY
We’ll knit the body of the cardigan in one wide piece before splitting it up to make space for the arm holes. Using a combination of knit and purl stitches we’ll create a rib stitch first, and then work in bands of stockinette stitch and seed stitch for the rest of the piece.
Cast on the required number of stitches using your 12mm needles.
💭 The stitches will run down onto the plastic tube connecting your needles. It will be a bit of a squishy fit but that's fine!
We'll start with a rib stitch.
To create a rib pattern, we knit 1 stitch, then purl the next, then knit the next, then purl the next and repeat.
🧶 Make sure you’re moving your yarn tail from the back to the front of your work between each stitch (bring the yarn in through the middle of the needles) to ensure the rib is executed correctly.
Change to your 15mm needles and we're going to work in stockinette stitch.
Stockinette stitch is a stitch pattern where we knit all the stitches in one row, then purl all stitches in the next - we repeat this pattern as instructed.
💭 To change needles, simply hold the new needle in your right hand and knit your stitches onto the new needle. When all your stitches are transferred from your left needle onto your right you've officially swapped needles!
💭 One of the things we found the hardest when we were learning to knit was keeping track of our rows. Before we were able to easily identify a row of stitches we used a pen and paper to keep track. That's why we've included handy circles in our patterns - you can tick them off as you go. The dashed circles are for the larger sizes.
Time to learn to do a seed stitch!
Seed stitch is a bouncy, textured stitch pattern that looks like tiny little seeds scattered across your fabric (cute, right?). It’s created by alternating knit and purl stitches within a row and across rows.
💭 Unlike rib stitch (which stacks knits on top of knits), seed stitch switches it up each row, creating a lovely bumpy texture that’s great for scarves, trims, or even full jumpers if you’re feeling bold.
Repeat the alternating bands of stockinette stitch and seed stitch.
Take breaks as you need them. Wine is always encouraged! 🍷
When you reach the ‘split row’ mark, you’ll start splitting your work so that we have space for the arm holes. You'll see that this point is different depending on your size, so make sure you stop where instructed and start knitting only the stitches for the first section.
You’ll work up three separate sections separately. Knitting the specified number of stitches back and forth to complete each section. The rest of the stitches will stay on your needles until you’re ready to come back to them.
You’ll follow the same pattern for each panel. After you cast off each section you’ll rejoin your yarn so you can complete the next section.
Each time you rejoin your yarn you'll do it with the wrong side of your work facing you (the bumpy side). Then you'll complete the stitch type specified for the row you're up to. For example size 1, you'll do a row of purl stitches. For all other sizes you'll start on the second row of a seed stitch sequence (purl 1, knit 1, repeat).
SEAMING
You're going to seam the shoulders together before we move onto the sleeves. The good news is this is the only piece of seaming you'll do for this pattern! Hooray!
Lay your piece on a flat surface, the wrong side facing you.
Fold the front piece over so the right side is facing up, then line up the outside edges and sew the edges together (A to B) leaving the gap in the middle for the open front of the cardigan. It's best if you work from the edge of the piece and sew inwards.
SLEEVES
We’re going to pick up stitches around the arm holes to knit our sleeves in the round. You’ll knit these from the top down, so we start with our 15mm needles and we will continue with the bands of seed stitch. You’ll follow this part twice!
Pick up the required number of stitches from around the arm hole. We like to start at the bottom of the arm hole and work counter clockwise.
Make sure the stitches you pick up are evenly spaced and you've got the correct number. We need an uneven number for this part.
We'll continue the same bands of stockinette stitch and seed stitch, but when you knit in the round you don't need to alternate rows of purl stitch to make a stockinette stitch pattern. So you'll knit every row in the stockinette stitch bands.
So with the stitches on your needles, you'll knit the first stitch, then mark it with your stitch marker, then knit every stitch in the round.
Move the stitch marker each round so it's always attached to the first stitch of the round.
Then complete 2 more rounds of knit stitch.
When it comes to the bands of seed stitch, you'll simply knit 1, purl 1, repeat for all 4 loops. There is no need to alternate the sequence. How good is knitting in the round?!!
Continue as instructed.
📉 Time to decrease some stitches! To get the shape in our sleeves, we're going to decrease some stitches before we knit the cuff. We do this by knitting two stitches together following a sequence.
You'll finish the sleeve with a 1x1 rib stitch knitted on your 12mm needles.
Because we now have an even number of stitches on our needle we will repeat the knit 1, purl 1 technique. This time, instead of giving us a seed stitch pattern it will stack our knits and purls up and give us a rib stitch pattern.
Loosely cast off your stitches. That’s the first sleeve done! We strongly recommend a wine break before starting the next sleeve 🍷
Button Band
Excellent work! Your masterpiece is almost done! The cherry on top is the ribbed button band.
Using your 12mm needles you'll pick up stitches from around the front of the cardigan. It's the same technique as we used for the sleeves but you're not knitting in the round this time.
We recommend starting at the bottom left corner of the cardigan (left when looking at the piece) and work your way up, around and down to the bottom right corner. Then you can start knitting your row 1 of rib stitch by knitting from the bottom right going up and around to the left.
Knit 3 rows of 1x1 rib stitch.
Loosely cast off your stitches. If you cast off too tightly your band will bunch, so if in doubt, go looser than you tann you should!
🪡 The final thing you'll do is use your darning needle to weave the yarn tails back into your work. This gives you a neat finish.
To do this, thread the darning needle with a tail, then thread the tails into a seam. If the tail is in the middle of a piece (i.e. not near a seam) you'll pass the needle through the stitches on the wrong side of your work, following the path of the yarn for 5–10cm. Then change direction and weave back through a few more stitches to help lock it in place.
Once the tail is secure, trim any excess yarn close to the fabric and then repeat until all tails are woven in.
BLOCKING (Optional)
The final step in finishing a knitted piece is to block it. This step is optional and not all beginner knitters will block their work (we didn't! 🤣) but it can improve the overall shape and finish of your piece.
Blocking your knitting is a process where you wet your piece to set the finished size and even out the stitches.
You can choose to block your work before you seam it together, or after. If you block before seaming together you might get a better result with your seaming because the stitches will be more lined up.
Soak your knit in cool water. You only need to let your piece sit in the water for a few minutes and make sure the full piece is completely wet.
💡 You can also use a spray bottle and spritz the knit with cool water if you'd prefer.
Remove your knit from the water and dry it off by rolling it in a towel. You want to get us much of the moisture out of the knit as possible at this point but be gentle! You don't want to stretch the knit.
Transfer your damp knit to a flat surface to block it on. If you've got a blocking mat - great! otherwise a towel will work. The surface needs to be somewhere where your knit can lie flat and can stay there until it fully dries so that the shape sets properly. Make sure it's not a surface that can be easily damaged by having something wet sitting on it!
Arrange your piece so the right side is facing up and the shape is as you'd like it. If you've got a measuring tape you can measure and adjust the piece so it's the correct size.
Allow the knit to air dry - this can take a few days. You can also use a hair dryer to speed up the process, just use a light heat and don't concentrate the air in one spot.