Flair Free Cardi by Sharon Hartley (River Road Knits)

Please note, this is a paid for pattern, so no pattern specific details will be shared. If you would like to purchase the pattern, please visit Sharon Hartley’s Ravelry store linked here! 

About the pattern

This pattern is as classic as it gets: a simple, stockinette, raglan cardigan with (as the pattern name suggests) no flair. This pattern is perfect for hand dyed yarn that deserves its time to shine, or a timeless classic cardigan you can reach for over and over again. This pattern can also serve as a blank canvas- stripes, your own colorwork design, maybe a scrappy version?! One of my favorite features of this pattern, despite its elevated simplicity, are the sizing options. For us busty gals, sometimes it’s difficult to find a pattern that fits correctly and this pattern taught me something new (and vital!) to finding my perfect fit. Sharon Hartley sized this pattern to traditional sizing, and also very kindly added a “curvy” version for those of us with a bit more in the bust! The curvy version gives more room in the front with options for decreasing after the bust, and she even has a YouTube video to explain all the sizing options you can watch before purchasing the pattern. 

This sweater is knit from the top down, raglan construction in fingering weight yarn with a gauge of 24 stitches and 36 rows per 4”. Sharon really put a lot of work into this pattern and it truly shows, both in the free resources and within the paid pattern, so I would encourage any and all knitters who love this sweater to give her a follow and support her work. 

About the yarn

There’s something about the process of starting a new project that I just can’t seem to get enough of. I love scrolling through Ravelry to find new patterns and search my yarn options. Do I use a yarn I’ve used before? Do I try something new? The possibilities are endless! 

For this pattern, I chose to try something new and work with the ever popular Knitting for Olive’s Merino yarn in the color Pearl Gray. This 100% merino wool comes with 273 yards per 50 gram skein and is classified as a light fingering weight. I purchased 7 skeins directly from the Knitting for Olive website for $62 including shipping. I used approximately 5 skeins for this sweater (1365 yards total). 

Sizing

As I eluded to earlier in this post, the sizing options for this sweater is what really drew me to choosing this sweater to knit. The description of this pattern on Ravelry even mentions it has “a truly RIDICULOUS number of sizes” and where size inclusivity seems to really be an issue with some designers, I found this to be quite refreshing to see! 

Sizing has been quite a journey for me in recent years. I’ve had two children in the last 2.5 years and my body has changed quite a bit, from pregnancy to breastfeeding, to another pregnancy and now in my second breastfeeding journey… needless to say, making sweaters based on a bust size that is constantly changing in the last few years has been a challenge! As mentioned earlier, this sweater taught me something very new and vital to finding my perfect fit and I can’t wait to share it with you! 

This Pearl Gray version of this pattern wasn’t my first attempt at knitting this sweater. I had found this beautiful hand-dyed yarn at my local yarn store One Lupine and I couldn’t wait to cast on. So, of course, as one is instructed to do in most patterns, I measured my bust at its fullest point and got a measurement of 48”. I chose the Curvy version of the pattern and size 52 (for 52” at the bust) for 4” of ease (the pattern recommends at least 2” of positive ease) and more room in the front for my bust. 

Here’s the issue- my frame is not proportional to my bust. I started knitting with my beautiful hand-dyed yarn and found myself trying it on after knitting the yoke and sleeves and found the raglan too wide for my shoulders- the raglan seams were out on my arms! This just wasn’t what I was looking for. I love an oversized garment, but there had to be another way where it would look like it was actually made for me. I did some math, tried to figure out how I could make this work, I did research on bust darts and kept coming back to the same issue- I needed some sort of measurement or starting point, and my fullest bust just wasn’t it. 

Lucky for me, I finally came across a blog post about bust darts that gave me the information I needed! To account for your bust in order to make bust darts of any kind, you have to start with your upper bust measurement. This will give an accurate measurement of your frame. This is vital to getting the correct shoulder fit and you can then add more fabric as needed. 

This was a game changer for me! I didn’t necessarily need bust darts in this garment because the extra fabric was already accounted for in the Curvy version of the pattern, but I had my starting point. My upper bust measurement is 41”, I added three inches of positive ease and settled on the 44” Curvy size and I was so thrilled with the final outcome! The raglan seams fell where they were supposed to, there was enough fabric for the amount of ease I had desired and I had finally, after pregnancy and breastfeeding, found the proper way to size myself!

Details

With this cardigan, to elevate its simplicity, I found the perfect buttons at a yarn shop in Waterville, Maine called Yarngoods Center made by Katrinkles and they couldn’t be more perfect! Knit stitches within an outline of the state of Maine, I fell in love immediately! 

Any modifications to the pattern, details of my gauge, helpful tips and tricks can be find on my Ravelry project page here. 

This cardigan is the perfect lightweight sweater for those transitional seasons and one I know I will reach for time and time again. I hope this post was helpful or inspirational in some way, and thanks for reading!