Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons

January 09, 2023

This pattern was built around buttons. I got these medium Hazelnut buttons at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival from Favour Valley Wordworking. I found them when I was looking for the bear buttons for the Reclaim Poncho with Arm Holes and I wanted to put them to use. I stood in my yarn room (ok it's a guest room, but it has a lot of yarn in it) and saw 6 skeins of Aran Tweed from Briar Rose Fibers and it was a perfect match.

Since I only had 6 skeins I knew this had to be a shorter sweater than I often make.

Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons


The sun was not cooperating in my office so I decided to try out using my pottery light setup (above). I think it looks a lot better than this pic even if I can't show it completely hanging.

Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons


This pattern uses the rice stitch which is basically just alternating front post and back post double crochet. It's looks like it's open, but it's still a pretty warm stitch.

Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons


I used a 5.5 mm hook for this.

Stitches:

ch - chain
sc - single crochet
sc blo - single crochet back loop only
hdc - half double crochet
hdc blo - half double crochet back loop only dc - double crochet
fpdc - front post double crochet
dbdc - back post double crochet
sl st - slip stitch


Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons


Cast on 60.
Row 1: Dc in the 3rd chain from the hook, dc in each chain across
Row 2: ch 1, hdc in the first stitch, *fpdc, bpdc. Repeat from *, hdc in the last stitch
Repeat row 2 26 times (total of 28 rows)
Front panels - make 2
Cast on 26
Row 1: Dc in the 3rd chain from the hook, dc in each chain across
Row 2: ch 1, hdc in the first stitch, *fpdc, bpdc. Repeat from *, hdc in the last stitch
Repeat row 2 26 times (total of 28 rows)
Sew the panels together. Make sure that your first row from all 3 panels (which just has the dc) is at the bottom. I like to leave about 2 inches at the bottom before I start sewing. Leave 8 inches for each of the arm holes.

Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons


I always start my arms in the arm pit. Make sure the sweater is inside out. The biggest struggle I have with the arms is picking up the same number of stitches. For this pattern I picked up 43 stitches. I decided to make the arms for this sweater extra long. In retrospect, if I had shortened them a couple of rows I could have had a bigger collar.
Row 1: Ch 2, dc in each stitch around picking up 43 stitches
Row 2: ch 1, hdc in the first stitch, *fpdc, bpdc. Repeat from *, Sl st to join
Row 3-11: repeat row 2
Row 12: ch 1, hdc in the first stitch, *fpdc, bpdc. Repeat from *, in the last stitch join 2 together to decrease. Sl st to join
Row 14-18: repeat row 12
For me the decreasing is never an exact science. I try the sleeve on constantly and see if the taper feels right.

For the wrist - cast on 10.
Row 1: hdc in the second stich from the chain, hdc to the end (10 stitches)
Row 2: ch 2, hdc blo to the end
Row 3: ch 2, hdc to the end
Repeat row 2 and 3 until you have 16 rows
Leave a long tail to sew the end together and then onto the end of the sleeve. Important - make sure that you have your sweater and your sleeve both inside out when you sew together.

Repeat for the other arm.

Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons


I knew I was running out of yarn so I made the pockets before the collar.

Pockets - make 2
Chain 18
Row 1: Dc in the 3rd chain from the hook, dc in each chain across
Row 2: ch 1, hdc in the first stitch, *fpdc, bpdc. Repeat from *, hdc in the last stitch
Repeat row 2 4 times (total of 6 rows)

Turn your sweater right side out. You're going to start the collar on the bottom right.
I modified this a bit after I played yarn chicken and lost.
Row 1: Ch 2, hdc up over and down
Row 2: Ch 1, sc blo up over and down
Row 3: ch 1, sc up over and down
Row 4: Ch 1, sc blo up over and down

Rice Stitch Cardigan with Hazelnut Buttons


Now you can position the pockets and sew them on. I put mine about 3 inches from the sides and 2 rows up from the bottom. You can adjust as needed.

Last, but not least - the buttons! I had 6 buttons so I positioned them and decided to start 2 inches up and space them out 2 inches up the left side.
It's a really cozy little sweater. This aran tween yarn is pricey, but it's one of my favorites.

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