FO - Sylvi Cardigan

First post of the year and a finished object shoot - what a good start.

pattern: Sylvi
designer: Mari Muinonen / tikru

started: November 29th
finished: December 29th
yarn: 100 % merino, 12 ply from the Hamburger Wollfabrik, in yummi moss green
needles: US 11 / 7 mm

alterations: quiet a few, the most important will be the changes I made to the back panel: I skipped some rows to turn the coat into a cardigan. I mirrored the first 60 rows and skipped row 61-101. Row 102 til the end were knitted as the pattern presented them. The mirrored part and the upper part needed a few minor changes to make them fit together. Also I made minor alterations to the most upper leaf, it was just to big to fit and I just skipped all the purl rows, also I needed to start the lower flower three rows earlier to have the bobbles on the back and not within the side seam.
My gauge was off, I had two more stitches per 10 cm / 4" and learned that if I wanted to make one more I might go with an even bigger gauge to avoid these minor changes. My row gauge (22 rows / 10 cm) was perfect for a cardigan length.
I also changed the sleeves to close fitting ribbed sleeves. I made a 1*1 ribbing and included the shaping (to have arm wide diamater) within the ribbing, making the increases in the seed stitch looked weird.

As you can see I don't have a hood. Hoods are something I never wear, so I decided to make a turtleneck-like collar. I made 5 more rows to the back, front and arms, continuing the decreases and added little neck shaping to the back to start the collar a little higher than the hood would have started. When reaching height I just skipped from seed stitch to 1*1 ribbing and made about 24 cm so I could fold the collar down and have the zipper hidden in the collar seam (I was afraid it might scratch my chin). I bound off VERY loosly and sewed the collar down, leaving enouh space to sew in the zipper later.
And last but not least I seamed the arm seams to the outside just like the seams at the sides. It matched the side seams and also "hides" the shaping at the shoulders. Not that there really is something to hide but the seed stitch looked a little off and the bulky seams are taking all the attention.