NEW PATTERN: CLEAR CREEK CARDIGAN
Greetings to you all. My latest pattern is an oldie but a goodie. Originally published in Interweave Knits I have finally updated and self-published the Clear Creek Cardigan. This sample is now 7 years old and remains one of my most-worn pieces. I consider this an excellent testimony to the beauty and durability of the yarn I made it with, Berroco Ultra Alpaca. This is one of the first yarns I ever knit with and it remains a favorite to this day. Made of 50% Super Fine Alpaca, 50% Peruvian Highland Wool, it is the embodiment of a blended yarn giving you the best of both worlds. Stability, loft and stitch definition from the wool; drape, sheen, halo and warmth from the alpaca. And the palette is as glorious a rainbow of heathers as any I’ve ever seen. This yarn is affordable, available and enduring, and although there are already many wonderful patterns made from it, I had to make my own contribution to sing its praises. As a designer, it’s always a good thing when the yarn itself sets the bar to judge your work by, and spurs you on to make something worthy. NYC knitters: both Knitty City and Annie & Co stock this yarn in loads of color.
This cardigan was born from a page of related cables in Norah Gaughan’s Cable Knitting Sourcebook; I always feel that cables have to have some sort of rationale for being placed together and the knot motifs used here are born from one another, which checks that box for me.
Sample shown in color Steel Cut Oats, all other samples in the same color unless otherwise noted.
And then I usually like to pair more complex cables with what I call “companion cables”, simple repetitive cables that give your brain a rest and also help keep track of rows with their regular progression. The columns of garter stitch have a similar role in helping you keep track of how many rows you have worked. The consequence is that this seemingly complex piece moves more quickly than you might think as all of these little things give you a firm foundation to build on with each repeat.
Clear Creek is a coat length cardigan with set-in sleeves and long, turn-back cuffs. The body is knit straight though one could add A-line shaping within the filler stitches at the side body if that fit is preferable.
It features generous inset pockets that seam smoothly into a lovely little frame of stockinette columns on the back body…
Sample shown in color Barley
…and a double-faced stockinette buttonband that is worked along with the cardigan fronts. It uses two sets of yarnover buttonholes that are anchored with tacking stitches in the final finishing for a stable buttonhole that remains neat even when wearing the cardigan open.
The neckline is a slightly unusual high v-neck, to give a flattering angle without sacrificing too much warmth.
The wonderful thing about a pattern that has been around this long is that there are a fair number of finished projects to peruse on Ravelry to see how the sweater looks on other knitters. I’m delighted that both men and women make and wear this sweater and I think the project pictures show that it really does suit a great many people. Have a look at finished projects here.
In other news, I’ll be traveling to beautiful Lancaster, Pennsylvania to teach at the annual retreat run by the Lancaster Knitting Shop. This is my first time at this retreat, but many of my friends have taught here in the past and I’ve heard great things about the event. I will be teaching my beloved Best Yarn for the Job class which involves a plump handout, suitcases full of samples and swatches, and an earnest attempt to teach you everything I have learned about fiber and yarn in order for you to better understand how fibers will behave and how to get them to work to your advantage in every project. I really can’t wait. I am also accompanied by two other teachers I greatly admire, Lorilee Beltman and Alasdair Post-Quinn, so I think it promises to be a wonderful learning experience. You can find the full info here and if you follow me on Instagram stay tuned for some more info about the class but you can get a brief overview with the gallery of pictures below.
We’ll be talking about yarn from the fiber up, looking at the inherent properties of various fibers and seeing how those properties are carried through to the final knitted piece. We’ll look at spinning and plying methods to see how these affect yarn behavior further and how blending fibers can create something greater than the sum of its parts. Lastly, we’ll put all of these elements together to make more informed choices about which yarns to use for specific fabrics like texture, lace, colorwork and cables, and how you can take creative control of your projects by choosing a yarn that will create exactly the result you have in mind. Wherever you are in your knitting journey, it’s never too early (or too late) to start learning about the materials we use and how to use them to best advantage.
