DIY: Knit Vianne Cardigan by Andi Satterlund

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I knit myself a yellow Vianne Cardigan by Andi Satterlund.

Unfortunately Andi Satterlund closed her pattern shop recently. Tomiko and I had always liked the appearance of her patterns. They included interested designs while having an hourglass shape. Many were also cropped and styled to be worn with skirts or dresses. There are many new patterns (both knit and sewn!) that are boxy in style. As women with large busts, we don’t like the fit of these. Andi Satterlund’s patterns were from before this trend, and we’re sad the patterns are no longer available.

I knit my (sixth?) yellow cardigan using yarn from my stash. Rowan Pure Wool SW DK is a superwash DK weight 100% wool yarn. It is soft and comes in many beautiful shades. I bought a 10-pack and used just over 6 skeins, about 765 m. I had previous used the same yarn to crochet these Overpass Mittens.

The pattern calls for 5.0 mm needles. Due to my loose gauge, I initially sized down to 3.5 mm needles. I liked the resulting fabric, but my gauge was way off. So I then increased my needle size to 4.5 mm, and got gauge. I find the resulting fabric is quite loose and stretchy, and now I want to try knitting the cardigan again but in my initial gauge.

Like my blue Salal cardigan, the Vianne cardigan has a top-down construction worked flat. After casting on the back neck, you knit down to the underarms. The pattern originally has a knit mesh back, but I switched that for a plain stockinette back. Due to the reduced stretch that stockinette has compared to the mesh, Andi helpfully includes instructions for adding more stitches. After knitting part of the back and putting the stitches on hold, you then cast on each front shoulder and start the lace panels. Once you join the fronts to the back at the underarms, you continue to knit in pattern, adding in waist shaping, until the bottom ribbing. Tomiko and I always like how Andi Satterlund includes ample waist shaping in her patterns. I used her modified stretchy bind-off to ensure a good fit while also being stretchy enough for comfort!

The front lace patterns are mirror images of each other, and was easy to memorize. The pattern helpfully includes both written and charted instructions for the lace.

After finishing the body, you pick up stitches around the armscyes and knit in sleeves with short rows shaping the sleeve caps. I’ve knit these seamless set-in sleeves before, on both my Salal and Palmetto cardigans. Through some measuring error of my own, I found that my armscyes were way too big. I didn’t want to rip out and reknit several centimetres of the body, so when I picked up stitches around the armscyes, I made sure to pick up fewer stitches than recommended. This helped to pull in the sleeves and ensure a better fit.

After knitting the sleeves, you then pick up stitches around the front openings and neckline for the buttonband. I added five buttons.

I didn’t have any suitable buttons in my stash, so I bought some from The Workroom in Parkdale. They have a beautiful vintage button collection, and I purchased some clear glass ones initially. However, once on the cardigan, I didn’t like the way they looked, so I got some more options. I ended up with these beautiful brown glass buttons with a cheerful floral design.

I love my finished Vianne cardigan, one more yellow sweater! Check out my other yellow sweaters here:

• Riddari
• yellow Featherweight Cardigan
• Lyngen Sweater
• Deren Cardigan
• yellow lopapeysa from Iceland
• Buttercup Chambray Jacket
• Kenji’s Remi Cardigan

Check out our other Andi Satterlund/Untangling Knots projects:

• Blue Salal Cardigan
• Pink Tierney Cardigan