Monday night wing night is a staple among my group of friends. When Caitlin showed up in a short sleeved red vintage cardigan with no tag she thrifted for $3 ages ago, I knew I had to recreate that sweater for myself. It was fun examining an existing sweater for stitch counts and gauges and increases, trying to match on my needles what was happening on the sweater. Especially since I found mistakes, dropped stitches, and I’m pretty sure the wool sweater was shrunk a few times. And mystery button hole band stitches were discovered to be crocheted!

I added a few of my own touches – cable bands to the tops of the pockets and big fabric covered statement buttons – but whoever knit Caitlin’s cardigan originally would be able to recognize my version today.

Caitlin’s Cardi is a short sleeved cardigan with cable accents down the front, at the center of each sleeve, and on the tiny front pockets. The body is worked in a deep textured lazy man’s seed stitch pattern in one piece from the bottom up. At armholes the fronts are held while back is completed, then each front is completed separately. Sleeves are worked from cable band down to create a puffed look. Finally, tiny cable lined pockets are added that are, lets face it, are more adorable than they are functional! After assembled, a single crochet neck edge, button band, and button hole band are worked to complete the look. Make this cardi even more special by finding unique fabric to cover your buttons!