June 1965: Fuzzy-Wuzzy & 3-ply Cardigan

My project from Stitchcraft’s June 1965 issue was inspired by this design for a striped orange cardigan made with “Fuzzy-Wuzzy” (3-ply angora/wool blend) yarn.

I say “inspired by” because I saw the project as a way to use up the different shades of orange wool I used in my “Shaded Blouse” project from last month, as well as the leftover pink from my “Clarel” and even a little bit of leftover orange from this lovely 1961 sleeveless top I made a few years ago. I figured I could just make narrow stripes until the first colour ran out and then see how to best finish the cardigan.

In order to do that effectively, I changed the construction from the standard bottom-up-in-flat-pieces in the pattern to a V-neck made in one piece from the top down, vertical ribbing included. That meant starting with the ribbing for the back neck, then picking up stitches across the long edge and the two short edges to make the curve, then keeping the ribbing in the dark orange colour from then on, using the same needles and two balls of wool for the two sides. It was a little tricky at first, but it was worth it to not have to play “yarn chicken” with the amount of orange needed for the ribbing at the end.

The “Fuzzy-Wuzzy” wool in the pattern is 3-ply and supposed to be knitted at 8 stitches to the inch. My wools were modern fingering/4-ply and I got a nice, even 7 stitches to the inch on 3 mm needles, so I adjusted the stitch counts, increasing up to the smallest size instead of my normal second. I remembered that this wool tended to shrink in blocking, so I wasn’t worried when it seemed generously sized — but maybe I should have been! The cardigan turned out wider than it needed to be, and if I had been able to use less yarn, I could have made the cardigan longer.

I ran out of the light peach yarn first and hardly had any dark orange left at that point, so had to buy another ball of the dark orange to finish off the ribbing (so much for the idea of using up scraps…). I expected to not want to wear or keep the finished garment, since the “cropped and boxy” look is not a great one on me. (It is, however, currently in fashion, so I figured I could sell the cardigan.) Strangely, though, I love it! It looks playful and fun and does not me look nearly as squared-off-and-put-in-a-box as I thought it would. The wool-silk-linen blend yarns and cap sleeves make it a perfect-temperature top for slightly cooler summer days.

I still have a bit of most of the yarns left over. Hat? “Shaded” mitts? Little cowl or scarf? I don’t know. I’ll edit this post if I make something matching!