The Habu Stainless Steel Silk Cardigan by Sestuko Torii has enthralled me for years. When I bought the book and opened it up the japanese patterns well and truly scared me enough to sit and ponder the thought of making the Cardigan. But not straight away.
When Inge-Lise spotted the book at my place over a year ago, we sat and talked about what sort of colours she would choose for her own jacket that I would knit for her.
We decided on smokey grey cotton and black stainless steel. A lovely combination together with just enough to be a little different from other kits/cardigans we had seen. The yarns came in January. It’s now November. But it’s done. And I couldn’t be more pleased with a garment if I tried.

Knitting the cardigan has been quite a journey. Knitting two strands of stainless steel is like knitting with two strands of live fishing wire. I didn’t read the pattern properly. Twice. I had to frog the first sleeve right back to the start, and had to do the same with the front.
It got thrown in the naughty corner.
And I pondered what I could do to make it less painful for myself.
I knit the sleeves in the round with the magic loop method and then when it came to the body of the garment I decided to cast on the left front, the back, and the right front all at the same time and knit the whole body in one piece. This actually solved a lot of my angst about seaming with the leeeetle teeeeeeeeny tinnnnnny stainless steel thread.
Once I got started (plus with a good bit of time dedicated on the ‘road trip’, I wondered why I had waited so long. I finished it fairly soon after I really committed in my head to finish it. And after a fair bit of pondering I went with one button only.
Japanese patterns = unfamiliarity = simplicity = sheer genius.
When I tried it on to make sure it would fit Inge-Lise (she is smaller than I) I was amazed. It looks so good. I asked another two friends to try it on (both various sizes) and it looked great on them too. I am sure it has so much to do with the stainless steel silk moulding to whatever shape is needed.
Now it gets packaged up and sent off to the other side of the world for Christmas. I must admit a little sadness to see it go.

But I can’t wait to cast on for another for myself.













