Coat of Many Feathers- Fingering Weight Modifications

Well I’ve done it again, heavily modified a pattern to meet my needs. That is one of the things I love most about knitting, you can change any pattern to meet your personal needs. In this case like with most of my modifications I changed the yarn weight on the pattern. The pattern called for worsted weight yarn which in colorwork would have been way too hot for my climate. I know the designer calls this a coat/jacket meant to be warm, but I would have roasted in this. I changed it to fingering/sport weight because well that is my go-to yarn weight for my climate. I have never modified a pattern this much before, but found it a fun challenge I knew I could take one. Below are all the various modifications I have made to this pattern.

Yarn Weight-

As mentioned above I changed the yarn weight from worsted weight to fingering/sport weight yarns. I loved that this pattern used Spincycle Yarn but I did not want to use Dyed in State worsted weight yarn. I have so much Dyed in the Wool sport weight yarn and I have knit the matching cowl, I wanted the cowl to make my cardigan.

Sizing-

This is were things got a bit tricky. For me a size 34” bust is my ideal size, this cardigan started at a 38” bust which isn’t too bad but I was slightly worried since I was using fingering weight even though I achieved the gauge called for in the pattern that the 38” bust would be too small. I typically CO anywhere from 200-220 sts when using fingering weight. The 38” had less than 200 sts which made me nervous while the next size 42” bust had exactly 220 sts so in theory that would be perfect. Luckily, I realized this pattern includes a nice sized shawl collar so that would be adding 60 sts to cardigan so hopefully the 38” bust would be perfect. In the end I could have easily gone for the 42” bust because the 38” turned out to fit well but with no positive ease. If I had wanted the collar to overlap and be looser the size 42” would be perfect.

Needle size-

I picked needles that I typically like to knit colorwork in. I typically use US 5 but I thought I'd give US 6 a try since that is what the pattern called for and it gave a nice drape to the knitting without being too lose and it worked out perfect. I went down to a US 4 for my ribbing because I like a nice tight cuff, hem and collar.

Gauge-

I used the US 6 suggested and was able to meet sts gauge without a problem. I also came pretty close to meeting row gauge which was a nice surprise because usually I am not even close to meeting row gauge.

Body-

I modified the pockets a bit to make them slightly wider because I felt the original pocket would have been too narrow using fingering weight. My gauge is different working flat stockinette so I knit 26 sts x32 rows to get roughly 4x4" pocket. I knit the body of the cardigan 15" instead of the 18" recommended. I am petite and find that 15-16" is my happy place for length on cardigans. It ends up falling right at my belt loop, looking back I could have gone the 18” in length and it would have been okay, but I am happy with the length. For my steek I personally like a 5 sts steek vs 7 sts. I just think it makes for less bulk. I also do my steek sts as follows: P1 (MC), K1 (CC), K1 (MC), K1 (CC), Pl (MC). I think it lays better when folded over

Yoke-

I made the yoke 6.5" instead of the 8" because I was worried it would have been too long otherwise. I based it off other cardigans of similar construction which called for 6.25" yokes which on me gives a great fit. I probably could have gotten away with 7” yoke for slightly more drape in the sleeves but I am happy with how it turned out. Instead of continuing the colorwork for the shoulder shaping I just used the MC instead. I wasn't a fan of not having the feathers match up and have another cardigan where it is just the MC for the shaping and like the look again drawing inspiration from my Thistle cardigan. I used a 3 needle bind off for this, but am now wishing I had used Kitchener stitch for a cleaner look.

Collar-

I knit the collar as a 2x2 ribbing collar going length wise to create the shawl collar. I am not a huge fan of garter collars and love the look of the 2x2 ribbing length wise for a collar. When I knit my Thistle cardigan I fell in love with the look. I personally think it creates a beautiful drape, but it does pull the fronts up a bit which I personally don't mind.

• I started by picking up sts along the bottom R front and picked up 1 st per 2 rows, knitting all the back sts from the holder ending with the bottom L front

• I then CO 30 sts (the same amount the pattern called for) using the backward loop method

• row 1 (WS): Sl1, p1, (k2, P2) x 6, k2, p1, ssp

• row 2 (RS): Sl1, k1, (p2, k2) to end

Sleeves-

I decreased every 6th rnd instead of every 5th because I wanted to do the decreases on MC rnds. I just thought it looked a little cleaner. This did mean I had 2 fewer decreases leaving my total stitch count to be 60 instead of 56 which was hardly noticeable. Because I used fingering weight my arms were more fitted than the pattern orgianlly called for which I prefer. I hate overly loose sleeves. The sleeves are just loose enough to be able to fit a thin loose shirt underneath. I also knit 2” of ribbing for the cuff instead of the called for 5”. It’s just a personal thing, I hate folded over cuffs.