I am currently preparing to totally frog a cardigan I knit in SWTC Bamboo. Love the color, the drape, the hand . . . but this thing has grown several sizes since being blocked. Arm openings are clear down to my waist, shoulder seams halfway to elbow, etc.

I'm an "ample" (finished bust measurement for a cardigan usually in the 50" range), so the weight of the garment is probably contributing to the problem. I'm thinking of a sleeveless shell, but would like to use a stitch pattern that will help stabilize the garment. Any suggestions?

If the stretching appears to be vertical, you might consider a sideways pattern worked from cuff to cuff or armhole to armhole. Another option might be to make mitred squares. A third would be to consider working to a tighter gauge -- not so tight that you don't like the drape but one that isn't too loose. And it sounds like it would be important to wash the swatch and maybe hang it, in the direction you expect the knitting to hang on you with a little weight on it -- maybe a clothes pin or heavy clip -- to help you get an idea of the stretch.

A strand of fuzzy nylon, availlable in fabric and sewing stores that sell serger thread adds the needed bounce to non bounce yarns like cotton, silk and bamboo while keeping the gauge essentially the same. Weight will make any sweater grow no matter the yarn, it is one of the confounding facts of knitting that a gauge swatch does not inform you about. I have sometimes gotten a LOT of information by knitting an entire sleave and leaving it hanging from a hangar for a week. EZ talked about tactics when knitting skirts. She suggested knitting the skirt to within four inches of the target hem and then letting it sit subject to gravity for a week or so. Then measure and rip out to the proper length. Another excellent teacher reminds us that often knitting streaches one direction and narrows in the other, making for sweater bottoms that cling to ours in really unflattering ways (no one needs to know just where my undies hit thank you very much)
I love the touch of bamboo but I don't trust the lack of body in fitted garments, I hope this helps you trouble shoot your sweater and re purpose the yarn to something else that you love.

Hi, Lynda.
I second dances.
Bamboo, like cotton, is "inelastic". That is, the fibers themselves don't stretch and bounce back.
But, as you found out, the final fabric *does* stretch.

Maggie Righetti writes about this in her book, Sweater Design in Plain English. What she recommends to counteract this tendency, is to provide "resting places" for the bottom edges of body and sleeves, usually ribbing that will keep the edge from stretching past a certain level on the body, by clinging to it. Also, that the ribbing should be worked extra-firmly, to a negative ease that will itself stretch out a bit with wearing.
Of course, you may not *want* ribbing that clings. . . .