Zippy Cardi

by Lea (@kisskiss.rhinestones)

ABOUT THE PATTERN GAUGE AND MATERIALS

The Zippy Cardi is a top down raglan with a cozy hood, Gauge after blocking: 10x10cm = 20sts x 26rows
zipper closure and i-cord edges. I have included
instructions for optional short rows. You also need to be Recommended yarn: I used scraps of e.g. Filcolana
able to pick up stitches to make this project. Arwetta, Knitting for Olive Merino and Lang Yarns Alpaca
Soxx 4-Ply to make my version and held all of them
The stripes on my version are 15 rows wide but you double. But any merino that you get gauge with will
could easily knit this with smaller stripes or none at all. achieve the look of my sample. For my second sample, I
This pattern involves lots and lots of purling. If you dislike am using Lana Gatto Super Soft, which meets gauge
purling, I recommend choosing an uneven number of held single.
rows for the stripes, so you can start and end on a right
side (knit) row! I used a total of 570g of yarn. Filcolana Arwetta, for
example, is 210m/50g. That means if you wanted to
I have written up this pattern in my own size (I am 179cm make this using Arwetta held double, you would need
tall and have an 85cm chest circumference) and made it around 12 balls of yarn. If you wanted to use Lana Gatto
available as a free download. Intermediate/advanced Super Soft, you would need around 10-11 balls of yarn
knitters will be able to adapt this to their size. for this size.

If you have trouble following the pattern, message me You will also need a 4mm circular needle, a few stitch
on Instagram (@kisskiss.rhinestones). If you make this markers (if you don’t have stitch markers, take a piece of
cardigan, please tag me and #zippycardi on Instagram! I scrap yarn and tie it to make a loop), a sewing needle
would love to see your projects <3 and zipper (mine is 50cm) and sewing thread that
matches your zipper
FINISHED GARMENT MEASUREMENTS
body circumference: 103cm
body length in the back (incl. the short rows): 52cm
arm length (from the underarm): 47cm

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 WORK FLOW:
The Zippy Cardi is worked in one piece from the top down, starting with the hood. You then work raglan
increases for the yoke, split for body and sleeves, knit the body at and the sleeves in the round. There’s
optional short rows at the bottom of the body and everything is nished with i-cord edges. Lastly, you will
have to sew in a zipper.

Hood:
Cast on 35 stitches.
Work stockinette at (i.e. knit on the right side and purl on the wrong side) for 60 rows, changing colours after
every 15 rows. I recommend knitting the edge stitches (i.e. the rst and last stitch of each row) as a knit stitch
on both sides for the entire project. This will give you little bumps that make picking up stitches much easier.
This is, of course, optional. Cut the yarn and change colour for the next step.

You are now going to work the sides of the hood: Place your knit in front of you with the right side up and the
live stitches with your needle being on the edge that is furthest away from you. Take your right needle and
start picking up stitches along the right side edge of your piece. Pick up 50 sts (i.e. pick up 3 stitches for
every four rows of knitting)

If you don’t know how to pick up stitches, I recommend this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=p9XQxUAvtMM

After picking up 50 stitches along the right side edge, knit the 35 stitches that are still on your left needle,
then pick up another 50 stitches along the left side edge. You should now have 135 stitches on your needle.
Work another 14 rows of stockinette back and forth in this colour.

Work another 45 rows of stockinette, changing colour every 15 rows. My version of this cardigan has quite a
large hood but you could easily work one less stripe to make it more tted.

You are now going to work the last stripe of the hood. For this stripe, you are going to work decreases at two
places every other row. To help with the decreases, you are going to place 4 stitch markers as you work the
rst row. Start with a right side (knit) row:

First row: Knit 41 stitches, work a right-leaning decrease (knit two together (k2tog)), place a stitch marker,
knit 3 stitches, place a stitch marker, work a left-leaning decrease (slip slip knit (ssk)), knit 39 stitches, k2tog,
place a stitch marker, knit 3 stitches, place a stitch marker, ssk, knit 41 stitches
Second row: Purl all stitches

Keep decreasing on every right side row until the end of the stripe as follows: Knit to 2 stitches before the
rst marker, k2tog, slip marker, knit to the second marker, slip marker, ssk, knit to two stitches before the
third marker, k2tog, slip marker, knit to the fourth marker, slip marker, ssk, knit to the end of the row.

After you have nished this last stripe of the hood, you should have 103 stitches on your needle. You no
longer need the four stitch markers you placed. You have nished knitting the hood and can move on to the
yoke!

Yoke:
The yoke of this cardigan is a simple raglan worked at with decreases worked every other row. To help with
the decreases, you are going to place 8 stitch markers as you work the rst row. Start with a right side row.

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 First row: knit 17 stitches, work a right-leaning increase (i.e. pick up the bar between your stitches with your
left needle from back to front and knit as usual (m1r)), place a marker, knit 1, place a marker, work a left-
leaning increase (i.e. pick up the bar between your stitches from front to back and knit through the back loop
(m1l), knit 14 stitches, m1r, place a marker, knit 1 stitch, place a marker, m1l, knit 37 stitches, m1r, place a
marker, knit 1 stitch, place a marker, m1l, knit 14 stitches, m1r, place a marker, knit 1 stitch, place a marker,
m1l, knit 17 stitches
Second row: purl all stitches

Keep increasing every two rows and always on the right side (if you’ve been starting and ending your stripes
with knit rows, stop doing this while working the yoke) as follows: Knit to the rst marker, m1r, slip marker,
knit to second marker (knit 1), slip marker, m1l, knit to third marker, m1r, slip marker, knit to fourth marker,
slip marker, m1l, knit to fth marker, m1r, slip marker, knit to sixth marker, slip marker, m1l, knit to seventh
marker, m1r, slip marker, knit to eighth marker, slip marker, m1l, knit to the end of the row.

Work a total of four stripes (i.e. 60 rows) this way. You will end on a wrong side (purl) row. You have worked
30 increase rows, meaning you have increased by 240 stitches and should now have 343 stitches on your
needles.

You have nished the yoke and are ready to split for body and sleeves! Start with the body. The raglan
stitches are part of the sleeves.

Body:
Your rst row is a right side row. When you reach a stitch marker, just slide it off. You no longer need them.

Knit to the rst marker, put the stitches between the rst and the fourth marker (i.e. including two raglan
stitches) on hold on e.g. a piece of scrap yarn, cast on 6 stitches, knit to the fth marker, put the stitches
between the fth and the eighth marker (again including two raglan stitches) on hold, cast on 6 stitches, knit
to the end of the row.

You have now separated the sleeve stitches from the body stitches and should have 203 stitches on your
needles for the body. Knit the body back and forth to your desired length. The body of my version is 5 stripes
(i.e. 75 rows) long.

Optional short row shaping:

To make sure that garments do now rise up in the back due to the way in which human backs are shaped,
lots of garments have short row shaping at the back yoke. For my cardigan, I added a few German short
rows at the very bottom of the body. Because of this, the bottom stripe of my cardigan is 24 rows, not 15
rows, wide in the back!

This is a slightly advanced technique and completely optional. I you have never done German short rows, I
recommend watching a few YouTube videos before you start!

To add the short rows, cut your yarn and - working on the right side - slip the rst 96 stitches.
Knit 11 stitches, then turn your work and work your German short row stitch: Slip the rst stitch on your left
needle onto your right needle, pull the working yarn to the front and over your stitch until you see its two legs
on your needle. Purl 16 stitches, which is 6 stitches past where you started the short row section. Again, turn
your work and work your German short row stitch. Knit 6 stitches past your previous turn and keep doing this
for a total of 8 rows. Cut the yarn and work all the stitches on your needles for one row.

You have nished working the body. Do not bind off!

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I-cord edge/bind o on the body

You are now going to work an i-cord bind off at the bottom edge of your cardigan and an i-cord edge all along
the two fronts (where the zipper is going to go) and the along the hood. This is very tedious and takes forever
but it really pays off!

First, you need to pick up stitches all along your front edges and hood. Start at the bottom corner of the right
front piece of your cardigan (right when wearing the garment). Pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rows of knitting
along the fronts and along the sides of the hood and 3 stitches for every 4 stitches along the top of the hood.
To achieve nice curved corners at the bottom of your zipper, pick up an extra stitch right in that corner.

Once you have picked up your stitches, you can working the i-cord bind-off starting with the bottom edge of
your cardigan. I’ve you have never worked an I-cord bind off, I recommend watching this video before you
start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEbaZ6COOYk

To refresh your memory if you have done it before: Cast on three extra stitches and slide them onto your left
needle. Knit two stitches, then knit the next two stitches together through the back loop. Repeat until there
are only three stitches left on your needle. Bind off leaving a tail to sew the gap shut.

The most laborious parts of your project are done! All that is left to do it knit the sleeves and sew in the
zipper.

Sleeves:

You’ve got 76 stitches on hold for each sleeve. Slide them back onto your needle and start working the
sleeve by picking up 6 stitches along the 6 extra stitches you cast on under the arm for the body. Place a
stitch marker between the third and fourth of those six stitches. This marks your beginning of the round. If
you’re worried about holes in the armpit, pick up 8 stitches instead of 6 and decrease by two on the next
round.

Knit your sleeve in the round, changing colour every 15 rounds (as usual) AND decreasing every 10 rounds
as follows: Work 9 rounds of stockinette in the round, then on your 10th round knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to 3
stitches before the end of the round, knit 2 together through the back loop, knit 1

Repeat until your desired sleeve length. The sleeves of my cardigan are 8 stripes (120 rounds) long.

Work an i-cord bind-off as you did before for the cuff of your sleeve. Repeat the same thing for the other
sleeve and you are done with your sleeves!

Zipper:

I recommend choosing a zipper that is the colour of your i-cord. There’s lots of videos on Youtube on how to
install a zipper into your knitted garment. I pinned mine into place using regular sewing pins and hand-sewed
it in place with matching thread. For a cleaner look, I did one line of hand-sewing right next to the teeth of the
zipper and one at the outer edge of the zipper. Repeat the same thing for the other side of the zipper.

Hand wash & block, weave in your ends, and you have completed your Zippy Cardi! Enjoy x

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