The Alford Aran Cardigan is full of juicy cables for a cozy sweater and an interesting project. It’s knit all in one piece with only a couple of small grafts needed. Pattern includes charts and written instruction for each set of cables and directions for Kitchener in Stockinette stitch and 2/2 rib. A truly unisex design, you can make one for anyone you love.

Construction:
Cardigan is knit from the lower body to the armholes flat, back and forth. Sleeves are knit to the armholes in the round and then joined to the body. Armholes and shoulders feature modified saddle shaping, which begins by decreasing body stitches, then sleeve stitches, and then body stitches again before shaping the saddle shoulder with short rows. The button bands and collar are knitted onto the garment as it is worked until reaching the saddle shoulders. When the saddle shoulders are complete and the back of the neck has been raised, the collar sts are continued and knit onto the neck until the center back, where the two halves are then joined with Kitchener stitch.

Notes:
Front edge sts are slipped throughout to form a clean edge. Lower body length may be adjusted by either adding or subtracting the number of buttonholes worked, which necessitates adding or subtracting ten rows/1.75” for each buttonhole. The last buttonhole is worked just as the sleeves are joined to the body. The armhole and shoulder shapings are taken from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Saddle-Shoulder Sweater. First the body stitches are reduced, then the sleeve stitches, and then the saddle again reduces the body stitches to the neck edge. This produces a line of stitches all the way from the lower armhole to the back of the neck. The collar begins just after the last buttonhole is worked and grows from increases worked in pattern and in conjunction with the decreases in the V-neck shaping. Rib at buttonhole/button band is a different gauge than the other ribbed areas.

Pattern has been tested and tech edited.

Here’s my blog post about this project: https://figknits.blogspot.com/2021/02/alford-aran-cardiga...