Knitting the Taylor Swift Folklore Cardigan: Step-by-Step Self-Draft Edits

 

Hello fellow knitting enthusiasts!

Yes, yes, I hear you: "Morgan, the everyone-needs-to-knit-a-Taylor-Swift-Folklore-cardigan-trend is over!" Yeah, I know, and if I'm honest, I'm kind of glad it is because that's all that popped up in my social media feed during that time. 😅🙈

However, I'm always down to knit a cabled sweater, and when I looked in my wardrobe and saw that I, a knitter, did not yet own a cabled cardigan (oh, the grievous sin!), I turned to the inspiration of the Swifties. While I'm not a fan of Taylor Swift, the pattern of this cardigan is top-tier with all its various cables, and the great part about it is that the variety of the cables makes the design look so complicated when it's actually super easy to knit. And the best part about this one is that Lion Brand offers the pattern absolutely FREE! You can find that here: https://www.lionbrand.com/products/folklore-cardigan-knit

Because I've been dipping my toes into designing my own knitwear, I decided to use this pattern as a base for numbers, sizing, etc., and add my own modifications, which you'll find listed below in detail. I also documented myself creating this cardigan and showing the modifications I made in a cozy, ASMR style vlog. If you're interested, you can watch that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm4ouXuirTE

 

 

 My Changes to the Original Pattern 

• I used 6mm needles for the body. This was larger than those recommended by the pattern so that I could a) get an oversized look and b) get the drape I was after since I tend to knit cables tightly. 
• I used 4.5mm needles for the rib. I believe that the original pattern has you use the same needle throughout, but I like the look of a tightly knit rib. 
• I used a Tubular Cast On for all the pieces.
• I switched the moss stitch to a double moss stitch to make the pattern mimic the style of Aran sweaters better.
• I increased the armhole depth to 10" rather than 9.5".
• 3-needle bind off: Rather than binding the stitches on the back and front panels and then hand-sewing them together later, I kept the back stitches on a stitch holder until I finished knitting the front panels, and then I bound off the back and the front panels together to avoid sewing later. (See video linked above for more details/visual representation.)
• I added after-thought pockets. This is such a super easy way to add pockets to any garment after you've finished knitting it! If you're new to this method, I have a quick tutorial on how to do this in the video linked above. 
• I knit the sleeves in the round NOT flat. This made the garment so much quicker to complete as the only seaming I had to do at the end was joining the sleeves to the garments. Even though this is a set-in sleeve construction, it's very easy to hack so if you're new to this concept . . . might I suggest my video? 😉😏
• I ditched the moss stitch in the sleeves for more narrow cables instead.
• To seam the shoulders and arms, I used a crochet slip stitch rather than a mattress stitch.
• Double-knit button band: Because I wanted my cardigan to have a more polished look (and I personally don't button my over-sized cardigans), I replaced the classic 1x1 ribbed button band for a double-knit button band following Kutovokika's tutorial on YouTube which I highly recommend! You can find that here:

And that's it! If you make this cardigan with any of these alterations or some alterations of your own that I didn't think of, please tag me on Instagram @morgan_f.taylor so I can see your designs! Also drop in the comments below what you thought of my alterations and what would you have potentially done. 👇And if you check out my video (here it is again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm4ouXuirTE) where I document this entire process, let me know what you'd thought of that as well. :) 

Until next time, I wish you many blessings and happy knitting!