THE LUCY
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 Lucy 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 LUCY CARDIGAN
If done correctly, your 10x10cm knitted swatch should measure 8 stitches wide, and 11 rows high when knitted in stockinette stitch on your 12mm 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 | 55cm wide x 43.5cm height |
| 2 | 10-12 | 6 | 60cm wide x 47cm height |
| 3 | 14-16 | 7 | 65cm wide x 49cm height |
| 4 | 18-20 | 8 | 70cm wide x 52.5cm height |
| 5 | 22-24 | 9 | 75cm wide x54.5cm 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 6 pieces. We knit the two sleeves, then the back, then the front pieces. Then you’ll use your darning needle to sew them all together.
SLEEVES
We knit our sleeves from the top down, meaning we're going to start casting onto our 12mm needles and begin knitting in stockinette stitch.
Cast on the required number of stitches using your 12mm needles.
💭 If you're using circular needles your stitches will run down onto the plastic tube connecting your needles. That's totally fine!
💡 Your piece of knitting will grow as you knit so don't be concerned if after you've cast on the piece doesn't look wide enough.
We'll be knitting in stockinette stitch for the majority of the sleeve, until we reach the cuff.
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.
💭 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 decrease some stitches! To get the shape in our sleeves, we're going to decrease some stitches in the two rows before we knit the cuff. We do this by knitting or purling two stitches together.
For this step, you're going to knit two stitches together all the way along the row, halving your stitch count.
We're up to a purl row so to decrease our number of stitches further, we're going to purl some stitches together.
You'll finish the sleeve with a 1x1 rib stitch before casting off your stitches.
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.
You'll swap to your 10mm needles as you knit the first row of rib stitch.
💭 To switch to a different size needle we just hold the new needle (in this case the 10mm needle) in our right hand and the current needle with your work on it in your left hand. Then knit the stitches from your left needle onto the new needle in your right hand.
Cast off your stitches.
💡 When you cast off don't do it too tightly or you'll have a very tight hole to squeeze your wrist through!
When you've got just one stitch left on your right needle, simply cut your yarn from the ball (leaving about 20cm) and thread it back through your last stitch to secure it.
Repeat for your second sleeve.
THE BACK
Onto the back piece which we knit flat from the bottom rib up to the shoulders. This is the biggest piece of your cardigan and once done it will look like a big rectangle.
Using your 10mm needles cast on the correct number of stitches.
First up, we'll knit our rows of 1x1 rib stitch. This should be pretty fresh from the sleeves, just make sure that you're moving your yarn tail from the back to the front of your work between each stitch to ensure the rib is executed correctly.
Change to your 12mm needles and knit in stockinette stitch.
Take breaks as you need them. Wine is always encouraged! 🍷
Cast off your stitches!
When you've got just one stitch left on your right needle, simply cut your yarn from the ball (leaving about 20cm) and thread it back through your last stitch to secure it.
🔥 Nice Work! The biggest piece of your cardigan is done!
FRONT PIECES
The good news! The front panels are knitted using the same techniques as the back so these will be a cinch now! 😎
A note on the rib stitch: Because some sizes have front panels with an uneven stitch number the starting stitch for each row of rib stitch must alternate.
SEWING TOGETHER
We're SO CLOSE! I can see the finish line 🎢 🙌
Now it’s time to get to work with the darning needle to sew your masterpiece together. We lay our pieces flat and sew them together one by one. Just as a diagram outlines.
There is also a video below that goes into the detail of seaming together.
Lay your front and back pieces on a flat surface, the right sides facing you. The right side is the side where you can see the 'v's of your stitches.
Sew the cast-off edges of the front panels and the back panel together (A to A) and (B 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.
Time to attach the sleeves to the body (A to C) and (B to C). Make sure the middle of your sleeve is lined up with the shoulder seam. This will ensure the seam of your sleeve is right under your armpit, not half way around your arm! Once you've made sure it's all lined up, sew the sleeves to the shoulders.
For this step and the next, we use a technique called mattress stitch. This technique is used when joining pieces vertically and it gives us a nice neat (almost) invisible join. It's also a great technique to hide loose or sloppy edges! 😎
You work this seam through the “bars” of stockinette stitch.
Fold your cardi in half long ways with the wrong sides facing each other, we're going to sew the sides together using the same mattress stitch technique.
💭 If you're anything like us you might find seaming a bit of a pain and hard to make super neat. It's a common beginner challenge! The main principle with seaming is no matter what seaming method you use, be sure you're entering into the same place on each stitch along the seam. This consistency makes it harder to see the seam.
Start either at the cuff of the sleeve or the rib of the waist and work your way to the armpit and then around to the other end.
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 into the inside of your work. You use your darning needle and weave those ends into the seams so they are nicely hidden away.
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.
