Seul Cardigan Pattern Review

I just finished my Seul Cardigan, and I’m really happy with how it turned out. Lang Cloud is such a bold yarn—especially in this colorway—and I wanted to use it in a way that felt intentional, wearable, and a little cool without losing its softness or playfulness. I talked more in last week’s post about why I picked this yarn and how I hoped it would work in cardigan form. Now that it’s done, I can confidently say this pattern was the right choice.

Why I Chose This Pattern

I was looking for something that would help the yarn feel like part of an outfit—not the whole thing. Something open, something with flow, but also something that paid attention to the details. I knew I didn’t want seams along the sides, since that tends to interrupt how the colors shift in a yarn like this. I considered a raglan cardigan but couldn’t find one that felt right.

The Seul Cardigan caught my attention because of how thoughtfully it’s constructed. The body is knit as one piece, and even though the fronts don’t match perfectly, I was able to get a good sense of cohesion by alternating skeins and paying attention to pooling—something I also did with my Cloud Sweater. Overall, it has that kind of “it just works” feeling, where even the mismatches feel like they belong. 

Mods & Construction Notes

The pattern calls for 6mm needles for the body and 5mm for the ribbing, with a gauge of 15 stitches by 22 rows. I ended up using 4.5mm for both the body and the ribbing, and 5mm for the sleeves. That gave me a tighter gauge—around 17 stitches by 27 rows. I did swatch with 5mm first, but the tension didn’t feel as even, and since Lang Cloud is a blow yarn, it responds better to a slightly smaller needle. To keep the oversized fit I wanted, I knit the size large. The fabric has a nice balance of structure and drape, and with no side seams, the whole thing falls really smoothly.

I made two small changes: I skipped the sleeve pleat and just decreased at a quicker rate, and I left off the pockets. Both are really nice features and just another example of how thoughtful the construction is in this pattern—but with a yarn this busy, I felt like they’d either get lost or get in the way. If I made this again in a solid color (and I definitely would), I’d probably include them.

One detail I wasn’t expecting—but really loved— was how the neckline and button bands start with a double needle cast-on. You hold a second needle behind your work and cast on over both; then each side gets 2 rows of stockinette and they’re joined together, kind of like 3-needle bind off. It encases the cast-on edge and gives it a clean, finished look. Matching the stitch counts on the second button bands and getting an odd number of stitches around the neckline while doing the double needle cast-on was definitely tedious—and it used more yarn than a regular cast-on, which wasn’t ideal while I was already running low and trying to manage color pooling—but it was worth it.

Knitting Experience

Overall, the pattern was easy to follow, and where things got more involved, there were linked videos to walk you through it. This was my first time doing a double needle cast-on, so it wasn’t the easiest pattern I’ve ever knit—but it felt approachable. I think a confident beginner would be able to tackle it with the help of the included resources. The construction kept things interesting without ever feeling confusing, and I liked that every part felt intentional. The short row shaping helps the shoulders sit just right, and the folded neckline plus Italian bind-offs on the ribbing really elevate the whole piece. It doesn’t just look polished—it feels that way too.

Buttons & Finishing 

Okay. The buttons. I found these vintage silver ones that are rectangular domes—sort of like little toggles—and they are everything I hoped for. They’re heavy in a good way, a little unusual, and they give the cardigan a cool, chic edge that plastic round buttons never could have. Since I’m always wearing silver jewelry, it makes the whole thing feel more wearable, like it already matches me on some level. 

The buttonholes aren’t the prettiest, but they do hold. With hand-knit sweaters, I feel like it’s pretty common for them to be both kind of sloppy and not functional—like the buttons just slip right out. So I’m just glad this one gave me at least one of those things.  

Final Thoughts

This project really gave me what I was hoping for. I wanted something bold but still wearable—something that let the yarn be loud without the construction feeling chaotic or thrown together—and I feel like this pattern totally delivered. Every design detail felt thoughtful, and even though I made a few small changes to simplify it for the yarn, the overall effect still feels clean and intentional. 

I can definitely see myself making another version of this in a more solid yarn. The structure and shaping deserve more room to shine, and I’d be curious to see how different it feels with some of the features I skipped this time—like the pockets and sleeve pleat.

But for this version, in this yarn, with these buttons—it feels exactly right.

Here’s how it turned out: