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Everyday Cardigan KAL: Yoke part 1

Everyday Cardigan KAL at Polka Dot Cottage: the yoke, part 1

Happy Monday! Are you ready to begin knitting the yoke? Last week we talked about important prep work you should do before you start your sweater. If you missed it, check that out here.

If you still need the pattern, you can get it here:

And hey! good news if you were waiting for the full tutorial version. I worked my typing fingers to the bone this weekend to bring you this today <grin>:

This week, we’ll be casting on, knitting the seed stitch collar, doing some stockinette rows, and some ribbing rows.

Casting on

Use the long-tail cast-on to add the required number of stitches to the needle. (See the pattern PDF to determine the correct number of stitches for the size you are knitting).

Although we are using a circular needle, we are not going to be knitting in the round. This will be a straight back-and-forth knit. The circular needle is necessary because there will be too many stitches to hold comfortably on standard straight needles, but use it in the same manner as you would use two straights.

Video: How to Cast-On: Long-Tail Cast-On, from Knittinghelp.com

Seed Stitch Rows 1-4

Everyday Cardigan KAL at Polka Dot Cottage: the yoke, part 1
Don’t be intimidated by the term “seed stitch.” If you know how to do a knit stitch and a purl stitch, then you already know how to do seed stitch.

Seed stitch is a pattern of alternated knits and purls, both along the rows and along the columns. For the first row, you repeat a k1,p1 pattern to the end of the row. For rows 2, 3, and 4, you look at the stitch from the previous row, and you do the opposite of that stitch. In other words, you knit all of the purl stitches, and you purl all of the knit stitches.

Don’t worry if you don’t have enough experience yet to distinguish a knit from a purl in your fabric. As long as you follow the written pattern, seed stitch will emerge.

Work rows 1-4 as written in the pattern PDF.

Videos: The Knit Stitch (Continental | English) by Knittinghelp.com

Videos: The Purl Stitch (Continental | English) by Knittinghelp.com

Videos: How to Knit the Seed Stitch (Continental | English) by Knittinghelp.com

Stockinette Rows 7-12

Everyday Cardigan KAL at Polka Dot Cottage: the yoke, part 1
To knit in stockinette stitch, you knit all of the stitches when you are working on the right side of the fabric (the odd-numbered rows) and purl all of the stitches when you are working on the wrong side (the even-numbered rows).

The Stockinette Rows in this pattern are slightly more complicated than that because we are also knitting a seed stitch button band at the same time. This means the first four and the last four stitches of each row will take on a seed stitch pattern, while all of the other stitches on the needle are stockinette.

In fact, this is true for the entire body of the sweater: the first four stitches and the last four stitches of every single row will be in seed stitch, regardless of what is happening to the rest of the row.

Also, keep in mind that there needs to be buttons on this sweater. The first buttonhole is added on Row 5, and a new buttonhole is added every 24 rows after that. Be sure to keep track of your rows as you knit, so that you know when to add the buttonholes.

Everyday Cardigan KAL at Polka Dot Cottage: the yoke, part 1
Row 5 is the first row of the Stockinette Rows, and the first with a buttonhole.

Work Row 5 as follows: The first four stitches are seed stitch, so they are worked k1,p1,k1,p1. Place a marker to help you remember where the button band ends and the body begins. Knit all of the rest of the stitches on the needle until you get to the last four. Place another marker. Make a seed-stitch buttonhole by working k1, yarn over, knit the next 2 stitches together, p1.
Row 5 (buttonhole row): [k1, p1] twice, pm, knit to last 4 sts, pm, k1, yo, k2tog, p1.

The next six rows will be simple stockinette stitch with seed stich button bands on each edge.

Work rows 6-11 as written in the pattern PDF.

The next row is an increase row. Periodically increasing the number of stitches on the needle is how the yoke gets its rounded shape. This particular increase row is worked on the wrong side of the fabric, where we are doing purl stitches. To turn one stitch into two purl stitches, you need to purl into it twice before slipping it off of the needle: purl into the front of the stitch as you normally would when purling, but don’t slip the stitch off of the needle; purl into the back of the same stitch and then slip it off of the needle. This is written as pfb.

Work row 12 as written in the pattern PDF.

Video: Purl Front and Back Loop (PFB), by Sapphires and Purls

Ribbing Rows 13-20

Everyday Cardigan KAL at Polka Dot Cottage: the yoke, part 1
Ribbing is another stitch pattern that is made up of knits and purls. All of the ribbing in this pattern is 2×2. This means two knit stitches are alternated with two purl stitches along the row. Unlike seed stitch, where the pattern alternates in the rows and the columns, ribbing alternates only on the rows. This means when you start the ribbing on subsequent rows you knit all of the knits and purl all of the purls, instead of doing the opposite.

Everyday Cardigan KAL at Polka Dot Cottage: the yoke, part 1
Work rows 13-20 as written in the pattern PDF.

Video: How to Knit The 2 x 2 Rib Stitch, by New Stitch a Day

Next Week

We’ll finish the yoke with another batch of Stockinette Rows and Ribbing Rows. Until then, have fun starting your sweater! If you run into a trouble spots be sure to leave a comment. I would be happy to clarify anything that doesn’t make sense. Good luck!

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Posted on 5 Comments

5 thoughts on “Everyday Cardigan KAL: Yoke part 1

  1. Thank you!

    1. You’re welcome! 🙂

  2. […] rows are worked exactly like the previous section of Stockinette Rows, except that there are no buttonholes to […]

  3. […] Work 10 Ribbing Rows, just like the ribbing rows in the yoke. […]

  4. My little caravan kid’s craft parties

    Everyday Cardigan KAL: Yoke part 1 | Polka Dot Cottage

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