Gracious Gray Sweater:

Fig 1

Friends,

After my first experiment of knitting a cardigan for myself  (my previous post),  the next one I made for my daughter when she was just 4-5 years and after that I felt guarantee that "Yes! I can make it". Then I decided to knit a sweater for my husband see Fig 1. Yesterday only I took a snap of my husband in that sweater, after 30 years of use the sweater is still in a good condition, thanks Vardhamaan yarn Fig 2 

As I have written in some post, see again here also the difference between the colours of sweaters in two photos.

Material: Vardhaman yarn 4 ply grey colour 300 gm, knitting needle UK no 10 and 12, dpn no 10, tapestry needle

Final size: Chest 40", height 28"

Gauge: 24 stitches and 22 rows form 3 x 3 inches

Stem-Leaves Pattern: CO 33 sts
Row 1: K 16, Sl 1, K 16
Row 2: All purl
Row 3: K 15, in the next st work knit, purl and knit with double wrapped yarn each time, Sl 1, in the next st again work knit, purl and knit with double wrapped yarn each time. K 15

Fig 2

Row 4: P 15, remove the double wrapped yarn ( we get 3 loose sts), purl 1, remove the double wrapped yarn ( we get 3 loose sts), purl 15.
Row 5: K 13, take the loose 3 sts ahead and 2 sts back, work K3tog,  K 2, Sl 1, take the  3 loose sts to the back of next two sts and K 2 first the K3tog of loose sts, (Note in between K3tog we have K2, Sl 1, K2), k 13
Row 6: Purl all
Row 7: As row 1.

Border, neck band and armhole band:
Row 1: P 1, K 1. If the last st is purl then,
Row 2: K 1, P 1

For all borders and neck band, armhole band use UK no 12 needle and for others use UK no 10 needle.

Front side: Front part: CO 127 sts using UK no 12 needle.
Special note: We have to divide these sts such that there will be seven branches of leaves as in pattern, more over the slip st in the middle one branch, that is forth should be exactly the centre of the front side part so that it will be end point of the V-neck. (See fig 1). Here we require some mathematics (of course for Professor in Mathematics that should not be a problem 😁)
Hence I have divided the sts as follows,
127 = 12+1+16+1+16+1+16+1+16+1+16+1+16+1+12
Note that these 1 stitches shown by bold are the slip stitches in the pattern on both sides of which there will be leaves in the pattern and the red one st is exactly middle one where there will be end of V-neck when the height will be complete.

Work border till the height is 2.5".

Increase rows: Now work with UK no 10 needle as per pattern.
Increase 2 sts one at the first and one at the last st. After 2" repeat this Thus now total sts will be 131.
Work these increased stitches always in stockinette st.

Repeat this till the height is 19".

Decrease for Armhole and Neck:  Bind of 6+4+3+2+1 sts on each RS and WS successively.
Now there are 99 sts on the needle.
Out of 99 sts,  work 49 sts as per pattern + place 1 st in a plastic pin + Join a new yarn to the next remaining 49 sts and work them separately as per pattern.

Also go on decreasing 1 st on every forth row and work remaining stitches as per pattern. Continue this decrease on both sides for neck side till 32 sts remain for shoulder and the height is 28" from start. Take these 32 sts for shoulders on two holders.

Back side

Back side: CO 127 sts. Work border as per front part.
Row 1: (k 15 sl 1) repeat 7 times, k 15. (127=15+1+15+1+15+1+15+1+15+1+15+1+15+1+15)
Row 2: All purl.
Repeat till the height is 19". (See colour change again?)

Armhole: Bind off 6+4+3+2+1 sts on each RS and WS successively.

Now there are 127-32=95 sts. Work as per pattern till the height is 27" end with WS.
Work 32 sts as per pattern, take middle 31 sts on holder and attach another ball and then work remaining 32 sts as per pattern.
Work those 32 sts on both shoulders for 1" more and with third needle join the shoulders with the corresponding shoulders of the front part.

Armhole Band: Pick up sts from the armhole side, approximately 150 sts. Work 1-1 ribbing for 1"

Fig 3

Neckband: Join the thread at one of the shoulder and pick up approximately 210 sts. (Even number). Work 1 x 1 ribbing stitch.
For the edge of V-neck work carefully as follow,
Considering that the central st must be knit, decide whether to start with knit or purl.

Row 1: K 1, p 1 (or p 1, k 1 as needed). Repeat for all sts. Slip the marked central st by plastic pin. repeat till end.
Row 2: k 1, p 1 till one stitch before the centre. Take the central st ahead and work k3tog.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 till the band width is 1" and then bind off all stitches.

See how beautiful the edge of V-neck looks!!






Hope that the following video helps you to make the pattern,