This spring, I visited Edinburgh Yarn Festival for the fist time. One of my treasured purchases is available at the Jyväskylä knit fest market place this weekend. So, now is the perfect time to publish a pattern for that yarn.
What: Dre / Own pattern
How: Circular needle 3.75 mm
From: Walcot Yarns Opus, 350 g
I fell in love with the yarn at the market place and had to cast on the same night. The yarn was very chatty and told me it definitely wanted to become a boyfriend cardigan with some crisp finishing toutches.
I was in such a rush, there was no time for swatching. And I got quite far the next day before it became obvious I really should have swatched. But hey, there I had a pretty big swatch so I got my tension and recalculated the whole thing. And this time it worked.
Dre is a boyfriend cardigan with V-neckline. The sleeves are a fun hybrid of saddle shoulders and raglan sleeves. Usually, for saddle shoulders you would first knit the shoulder separately but I designed this so that you work it all in one piece right from the beginning.
The design has lots of lovely details. My favorite thing are this mock seams at the shoulders and the sides. The shoulder seams meet at the underarm and twist together in a little cable pattern to continue as one for the sides. The seams can be a bit tight before blocking but should open up nicely wit soaking.
The long hem has a rounded slit and decent sized pockets. The pocket edges, hem and cuffs have a few rows of crisp looking broken rib.
Finally, you'll pick up stitches from the fronts and back of the neck to work the button band. It's shaped with short rows to be a bit wider at the center. The whole thing is topped off with i-cord bind off, during which you'll make the button holes. The cardigan got its name from these gorgeous moose buttons I also found at Edinburgh Yarn Fest. Dre means moose in Albanian.
And the yarn! It was new to me. Walcot Yarns Opus is a gorgeous and soft. The label says it's 70% Falkland merino, 30% Baby alpaca and 100% awesome. And it really is!
And the best thing is that today and tomorrow you can find Walcot Yarns with Opus at Jyväskylä Knit Festival. Come see Dre cardigan at their booth while you're choosing your colors. You can get the pattern with 20 % discount with the code OPUS until Tuesday July 7th.
