I was taking a little trip down memory lane by looking through my projects on Ravelry. I became a Master Knitting in 2000, and my project was a stranded cardigan. I never was happy with the sweater as I thought I had to use Medium weight yarn. (I risked using a Light weight yarn.) I redesigned it as Utah by Way of Norway using Lace weight yarn in 2011 for the issue of Cast On celebrating the 25th Anniversary of TKGA. And now we have another anniversary to celebrate―the 5th Anniversary of TKGA as an independent non-profit. My own celebration is a reworking of this design as a present to myself. (I prefer loose-fitting pullovers to cardigans.)

I have redesigned all of the motifs for this sweater to make grading the sizes easier. Yes, I have learned a lot since 2000. The construction of this sweater is very simple. The front and back are rectangles. The only shaping required is for the sleeves which are drop shoulder with saddle shoulders. What makes this a complex design is the weight of the yarn. The gauge for 4” is 44 stitches and 48 rows. Also, the pattern specifies that the pieces are knit flat. Yes, I know this is heresy, but I have learned that my stranding tension is much better when I work it this way. It does contribute to the difficulty level. The charts do not indicate RS/WS. In some cases, the chart motif may start on a WS row. For WS rows, read the chart from left to right, not right to left. And by all means, if you are an experienced knitter and prefer working in the round, convert this to circular knitting and steek it.

The bottom edges and the cuffs use a provisional cast on and are then folded and worked together with the live stitches when the first border is complete.