DIY: Deren Cardigan by Jacqueline Cieslak

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I knit myself the Deren Cardigan by Jacqueline Cieslak, from her book Embody published by Pom Pom Press. It took me about six weeks to knit, even with all my ripping back.

The pattern is extremely customizeable and inclusive for all body types. It includes directions for adjustments such as full bust adjustments, bicep adjustments, in addition to body length and sleeve length. Although the pattern is well written, I did a whole lot of frogging!

I got gauge with size 2.5 mm needles and ultimately chose to knit the size 4. Initially I cast on for size 5, but after trying on the front and back yokes, I didn’t like the fit. So I ripped it all out and started again! I think I could have even gone down to a size 3 in the end for an even closer fit. I also added bust darts as I normally have to do FBAs when sewing bodices.

For the sleeves, I also did a lot of ripping back. I knit almost the whole first sleeve before deciding it had too much ease as written for the size 4. Instead, I did the calculations to size down by 1 inch, and then reknit it. I think the sleeves turned out rather well! I originally had knit a more cropped version because I didn’t want to run out of yarn. After finishing all the body ribbing, however, I decided that I did have enough yarn to add a bit of length! So again, I ripped out all the ribbing, and added about 10 rows to the body, leaving me with just a few grams of wool left. I’m glad I added the length, because the cardigan is still a bit cropped!

This beautiful yarn is 100% wool yarn from Revolution Wool Company. I bought six skeins of this DK weight yarn from Romy at Landmade, a local fibre festival in February 2020, the last yarn festival we attended before the pandemic. Although I’ve bought yarn from Revolution Wool Company before, this yarn was from a single yearling sheep and the wool felt very fine. I immediately had to buy a sweater quantity of it! Tomiko bought a few skeins herself. I’ve also knit Kenji a Campfire pullover using Romy’s indigo-dyed yarn and natural brown yarn. We love supporting our local Ontario farmers, and this includes buying local food as well as local wool!

I wasn’t sure about knitting a white sweater or cardigan, so I decided to dye the yarn myself. I knew I wanted to dye a deep golden yellow colour, and I think yellow is becoming one of my favourite colours! After scouring it and mordanting it with cream of tartar, I tested out dyeing just three skeins. I had spent all summer growing, harvesting, and drying marigold heads. And in September, I harvested a bunch of goldenrod from our mom’s garden.

To start, I decided to dye just three skeins with the goldenrod. However, after dyeing, rinsing, and drying the yarn, I hated the colour! Instead of the gold that I wanted, I ended up with a pale, almost neon yellow-green. The yarn was so nice however, that I then decided to dye all six skeins, redyeing the three that I started with. For the second dye bath, I used the marigolds and a bunch of onion skins. The resulting colour was more what I was going for. Three of the skeins had a brighter undertone because of their first bath with the golden rod.

Since I had three skeins with two different shades of yellow, I had to alternate skeins when knitting my Deren cardigan. This was easy enough to do for the most part, except the sleeve caps. The sleeve caps were knit in short rows so it was difficult to alternate, but I think it’s barely noticeable.

The ribbing of the hem, wrists, and buttonbands was also a nice touch. Instead of regular 1×1 or 2×2 rib, there is also some seed stitch in it. I love the effect!

I chose to add some sheep horn buttons that I bought in Iceland. These handcarved buttons were from the Ullarselið Wool Centre, north of Reykjavik. When purchasing them back in 2019, I had no specific plans other than eventually using them on a handknit cardigan. And now I can say my Deren cardigan is 100% sheep!

Although I knit Deren as a cardigan, the pattern in Embody has many options. You can knit it as a t-shirt with no neck ribbing, or as a pullover sweater. There’s a whole lot of short-row shaping as well to get the fit that you want.

Get the pattern for the Deren cardigan on Ravelry here.