Well my big cosy brioche cardigan, Novio, is finished! It’s pretty much what I had hoped it would be, warm, squishy and like wearing a big hug. I made this sweater for my oldest son, however he’s away in college so my second boy, Damien, did the honors and modelled it for us. He’s a slightly different build to his brother so it’s a little longer (body and sleeves) than if it was made for him. Fortunately as it’s a top down cardigan if he ever feels the need for one of his own it’s easy to make the sleeves and body shorter for him!

I envisioned this being a unisex cardigan so I did a few modelled shots of me wearing it also, it was very, very snugly.

This cardigan started last January but was then put to one side until later this summer due to many pressing projects. It was lovely to get back to the relaxing rhythm of the brioche. It was knit top down with raglan shoulder shaping. With Brioche of course increases are worked as double increases so the raglan shaping is a little different than standard stockinette knitting. Once you’ve reached the underarm area the front and back of the body are joined together and the body is worked down in one piece. You can see that I’ve added optional pockets with stockinette stitch backing. Once the body is complete the sleeves are worked in the round. I’ve done a few short videos here for anyone who is new to Brioche in the round.

The neck is a v-neck with increases along the edge. When the body is finished the stitches for the edging are picked up around the front and 1×1 ribbing is applied all the way around. As the perfect finishing touch I found some great faux leather grandfather buttons at Textile Garden that seemed just the right style for this cardigan.

I’ve knit this cardigan quite oversized but it can also work a little smaller as well. Check out my test knitters modifications!

So the big question is – will you knit this for yourself or as a gift? To get you started you can use code BRIOCHE10 to get 10% off Navio on both my website and ravelry.

You can get the yarn, Hudson, on Love Knitting here.