Coraline

Once Coraline had dried from it's blocking, I grabbed some of the little safety pin kind of markers and put it on to decide button placement. There was a question the other day about buttons and yes, buttons (and buttonholes) are usually decided when the front bands are knit, but this sweater uses button loops which are added anywhere and are added after the sweater is finished. The front edges are finished as you knit. This gives lots of options and you can really customize your button placement to work with your body type (genius!).

The first thing I tried was "buttoning" it just below the bustline. This is pretty flattering on most figure types (mine included) because it pulls the garment in at one of the smallest parts of the body (even if you don't have a waist, just below your bustline is usually smaller than the rest of you) and it gives you a V shape below the button and an inverted V above the button - V shapes are slimming. I liked it there, but it wasn't quite right. Then I tried adding buttons all the way up the front in the way that cardigans have been buttoned for ages - classics are classic for a reason. I liked that too, but it made the cardigan a little too classic and somehow less interesting. (I'm totally in love with classic pieces, but for some reason, maybe the nature of the handspun yarn, it's just not quite right for this sweater.) Then I decided to try it the way it's shown in the pattern - just a few buttons at the yoke - BINGO! It just looked right that way. I think it could have worked with the under-the-bustline trick if I had worked the additional short rows for the neck shaping (compare the neckline in the pattern - jewel neck - versus my neckline - more of a ballet neck), but with the open, wide neckline, it just didn't quite work right.

All the details: Coraline by Ysolda Teague (Ravelry Coraline link) knit in my own handspun yarn. I did not work the short rows in the yoke section (there's a lot more information about working the short rows vs. not working the short rows in the Ravelry project pages for this design), giving me a ballet neck on the cardigan. I used 3 - 1/2 inch shell buttons to close the yoke section. Except for adding an inch to the sleeve measurements for my long arms and adding a few more rows to the yoke section to compensate for a row gauge that was different from the pattern, I made no changes to this design. The pattern is very well written with nicely finished edgings that I really like. It's a simple design with lovely details, which is probably why there are over 500 of these on Ravelry. I'm very happy with the way it came out and can see myself getting a lot of use out of it!