So many QueerJoe Blog readers commented on the Tilt Cardigan, that I wanted to do a special consolidated post of all-things Tilt.

Details

Pattern Name: Tilt

Designer: Lisa Richardson

Yarns:

• Rowan Summerspun – DK weight colourway Maida Vale 118 (darker yarn – 50% merino, 50% cotton)
• Rowan Purelife Revive – DK weight colourway Rock 465 (lighter colored yarn – 36% silk, 36% cotton and 28% viscose)

Needles:  

• 3.25 mm (no 10) (US 3)
• 4mm (no 8) (US 6)

Sizes: To fit chest sizes from 97 cm (38 inches) to 127 cm (50 inches

Techniques:  Knit flat, stranded (Fair Isle) knitting, shawl collar, ribbed pockets

Overview

Lisa Richardson is a tremendously talented designer and it shows in the results of this perfectly casual cardigan.  It’s a challenging knit for a couple of reasons.  First, it’s knit flat (not in-the-round), and I find stranded knitting on the purl side to be a challenge.  Second, the two yarns she chose for the project show enough contrast in photos and when standing 5 feet away from your work, but not as much when it’s close up.  So, it’s difficult to see the pattern whilst knitting, requiring a lot more attention.  This is especially true when there are increases and decreases involved as with the sleeve and collar shaping.

Some other challenges:

• The yarns Summerspun and Purelife Revive are both discontinued
• The free Tilt pattern by Lisa Richardson has been taken down from their web site

Tilt Project

I desperately wanted this garment in my wardrobe.  Now having it completed, I am thrilled at having gone through the effort of acquiring the yarn and making this cardigan.  I will wear it constantly.

Here are some of the steps in my process:

• Found vendors with leftover supplies of the two yarns in enough quantities to make the large size of this garment and ordered the yarn
• Safely stored the Tilt pattern PDF on my computer in case it became hard-to-find (which it has).
• Re-designed the pattern in a few ways:
  • Modified the body of the cardigan to knit it in-the-round and inserted a 8-stitch steek for the front opening, arm-holes and neck.
  • Eliminated the extended ribbing in the front

• • Eliminated the pockets in the front inserted into the extended ribbing
  • Documented a bit of the redesign in these two blog entries:
    • Tilt Re-Design 1
    • Tilt Re-Design 2

Recommendations/Substitutions

I’m pretty certain that if there was enough demand Rowan would put the free Tilt pattern back out on their web site.  Contact them here to let them know you’d like them to re-add it to their site.

I’m also pretty certain that they wouldn’t consider re-issuing the two discontinued yarns.  Two possibilities I would recommend:

Switch to a different Rowan Yarn:

Switch to a substitute non-Rowan Yarn by using YarnSub.com.

Here’s the result of my efforts!

I’d love to hear about any other efforts and experience of others making this beautiful design.