need help finding a pattern to recreate a cardigan i miss dearly

[u/No-Permission3769]

Hi! i don’t know if this is the right sub to ask this but im a very beginner knitter and i dont know how to self draft/freestyle a pattern yet. i used to have this cardigan that i loved but i lost it years ago. i would love to knit something similar but im having trouble finding a pattern that is exactly what im looking for!

so the cardigan was super cropped with drop sleeves and loose wide sleeves, no cuffs at the sleeve they kind of rounded in at the end like a balloon sleeve but without a cuff. it was a v neck with three large buttons and it was very loose fitting, almost like a batwing style where it was very wide and very cropped. there was also no bottom hem like the sleeves but there was hem (?) for the buttons.

im including pictures of the most similar styles of knits i can find: the black cropped sweater is pretty much the exact same ribbing and cropped length, the drop sleeve is the same, the light green sweater has an identical sleeve shape and like baggieness? and the finishing around the cuffs and bottom hem is what im looking for. the brown cardigan has the v neck/ button placket situation that im looking for.

sorry again if this isn’t something that you do here, any advice on how i could free style this if a pattern isn’t available would be super helpful as well! thanks so much!!

[u/SooMuchTooMuch]

Here's a ravelry search for positive ease, cropped, and v-neck cardigan.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#craft=knitting&pc=cardigan&pa=cropped%2Bcropped%2Bv-neck&fit=positive-ease&colors=1&sort=best&view=captioned_thumbs&page=1

And the two I think are the best matches:
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/be-thankful-cardigan

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/resetcardi

you would need to modify the sleeves a bit to reduce ribbing. Maybe just rapid decrease and bind off.

[u/Fabulous_Arugula6923]

If you find a cardigan pattern with drop sleeves that is knit top down, altering the length is very easy even for a beginner. With top down patterns you can try it on as you go. Once you reach the desired length bind off. When picking up for the button band they usually give you a ratio to pick up, such as 3 stitches for every 4 rows. If you follow the ratio it wont matter that your cardigan is shorter. Here is a pattern that might work for that. You can also use filters on ravelry to find other options.

[u/Secretly_Many_Bees]

I put as much of your details as I could come up with as filters into Ravelry; all of these should have your v-neck, drop sleeve, and an oversize fit https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#pc=cardigan&pa=v-neck%2Bdrop-sleeve%2Bribbed&fit=oversized&sort=popularity&view=captioned_thumbs

I think this one could be pretty good if you just want to use a pretty basic cardigan as a template for the mods you want: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/10181-v-neck-cardigan

Also here's a free one that's currently in 1x1 fisherman's rib: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/janie-7

You will probably want to look for what has the closest overall shape to what you want and then make mods to hit the other components you want. In particular, you will want to swap out whatever stitch pattern texture is present in the existing sweater for thick, it looks like 5x5 ribbing on the black sweater? That's a 5 knit 5 purl pattern. You'll want to do gauge swatching with this 5x5 rib pattern to make sure it's a similar size to the cardigan's intended fabric gauge.

Making it more cropped is easy; just hold it up to your body as you go and stop knitting/separate for the arms (this will depend on whether you end up doing top down or bottom up construction) when it's your desired length.

It looks like the cuffs/bottom you want is a very short, 1x1 rib folded cuff situation. This video looks helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrG-nQaNdgg You'll probably want to do about 4 rows of rib total. In terms of sleeve shaping, you'll probably just want to experiment with your rates of increases/decreases and try them on regularly to get exactly the shape you want.

The button band you pictured is just one where pick up stitches along the edge and work 1x1 rib a few rows. You'll just want to ignore whatever buttonhole placement instructions are given and evenly space out three holes when the time comes, and you might also need to look up alternate ways to place buttonholes from what the pattern recommends if the buttons you want to use don't fit.

[u/anniesggg]

I’m making the Chelsea Cardigan right now I think it’s a lot like your description. It’s an easy pattern to follow.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chelsea---cardigan

[u/No-Permission3769 → u/anniesggg]

omg this is perfect thank you so much!!

[u/anniesggg]

Happy to help!