1950s Petal Yoke: From Cardi to Jumper

I was going to write 'I recently'... but that isn't really true, this is a project that I have picked up and put down again over several months!  I decided to re-work a 1950s cardigan, 'Petal Yoke', into a jumper, mainly because I felt that the cardigan style was more difficult to wear without becoming 'gap-y' when it was pulled across the bust, or stomach.  I still wanted to keep the silhouette of the 1950s curve, and the very pretty petal yoke, but create a smoother finish.

I also changed it slightly to give a more polished finish, with the button band becoming part of the neckline.  I also removed much of the waist decreases - replacing with a deep rib (more forgiving for the modern figure!).



Details of the amendments to the pattern follow:

1. Begin the pattern as per instructions, knitting from the neck top-down, until you reach the last row of the yoke design, just before you place stitch markers to divide for sleeves (and front, and back).  At this point switch to circular needles.  I thought it looks neater to bring the button-band to a smarter end, by knitting the front to the back of the band.  To do this, I slipped the last eight stitches back onto a spare needle, and placed behind  the front eight stitches of the button-band (the other end of the circular needles).  Then I worked these eight stitches as if it is a 3-needle bind-off, without actually binding off, i.e. knitting a front stitch and a back stitch together.  Here is a picture to try and better explain what I mean:

2. The next difference will be that instead of having a left and right front side, you will have a front section that is 8 sts less than the number of stitches for the left and right front side added together.

3. After working the pattern to the armhole join, I made a further alteration to reduce the number of decreases for the waist, and to use a K1,P1 rib instead.  To do this I rejoined in the round, casting on four stitches under each armhole. I placed a stitch marker at the mid-way point under the armhole to work decreases.  Worked as per pattern until it measure five inches from the armhole cast-on, i.e. five decrease rows worked.  I then changed to K1, P1 and continued.

4.  I made one further slight alteration by adding another 1/2 inch to the overall length.

Done - hope that is clear as dishwater ;)