Unbuttoning the gloom

“The weather is always rubbish at this time of year. What do you expect? Of course it’s grey and rainy. It’s February. This is the deal!“

She was a little harsh, but probably also fair. Mostly, my friend explained, she was just fed up of listening to everyone moaning about the last 6 weeks’ lack of sunlight and relentless drizzle. The weather is bad enough. Must we have a commentary on it from everyone as well??

I think we kind of do. I know it’s a cliche that people in Britain talk about the weather all the time but to me there’s a kind of sympathy and solidarity that is comforting to our vitamin d deficient, rain-sodden lives. So when I discovered that February had kept a couple of warm sunny days up her knitted sleeves for this last week, it seemed a good enough cue as any, to stand with her in unbuttoning the gloom, with a round-up of cardigans. Fundamentally optimistic, there’s nothing that says ‘we believe in a warmer next week (or if not next week, then maybe the week after?)’ than a cardie.

Something in the bold perpendicular geometry in this colourwork put me in mind of the beautiful mud block printed Bogolan textiles from Mali, more usually found in textiles museums and specialist fabric shops. But AB’s Figures has scaled the pattern to make perfect sense as wearable knitting. There’s something reassuringly elemental about those chunky black buttons and the cream-black contrast , but I can also see this one working beautifully with 2 tones of the same colour, like a bright red coupled with a darker crimson or an inky blue with a sky contrast.

We’re in DK-land here, which is good because anything thicker could make it a bit unwieldy with all that stranding. For the undyed look of the colours in the picture, WYS Jacob DK, Uist Wool DK or Laxtons Sheepsoft or RP’s Brusca, would all work a treat.

My interest in AM’s Winter Smock was piqued last week after she trailed it in a characteristically interesting commentary on the rise of simple sweater patterns in her weekly ‘Nara‘ post. Curious about whether there was anywhere new to go with a design that was as ‘plain and simple’ as she claimed, I have to concede she’s nailed it. Fit, shape, construction, and options!! For as AM writes, ‘A simple top-down garter stitch knit, the Shoreline Cardigan is a chameleon. With a few quick button-flicks, it transform from a frolicsome sailor-collar top with plenty of ventilation, to a fully fortified jacket ready to brace the elements.‘ From my every-knitter vantage point, this one looks like a ‘Bingo!’ cardigan for first-time-sweater-ers, need-it-in-a-hurry knitters, and all general purpose cardi-lovers.

The chunky 8mm needles mean that we need to go big here. Malabrigo Chunky is an obvious choice – perfect at that guage, but i’m also going to give a shout out for Sheepsoft’s little-known chunky sibling, Laxton’s Fibre knit – currently on special offer!

Assymetrical without the ballerina wrap vibe. RY’s Breeze nods towards an almost pyjama-like ease with those lovely ties on the side. At the same time, her texture and simplicity steers it comfortably clear of being overly twee.

The 19 stitch gauge lets you decide if you’d like to lean lighter and drapier towards a looser knit DK, or heavier and boxier with a snug-knit worsted. I see the plainness of the fabric calling for a hint of variation in the yarn – something heathered like DR Gilliatt, or WD Mota, Laxtons Sheepsoft or WYS Bluefaced Leicester.

For mismatched knitters everywhere, the Diabolo celebrates the diversity of our left-overs and scraps with a riot of misaligned mark-making. It also seems to speak kindly to my special talent for what French knitters call buttoning Monday up with Tuesday. Continuing with the mix-and-don’t-match theme, the aran-weight 18 stitch gauge makes it a perfect candidate for double or triple stranding your left-overs to create your perfect palette. Or if left-overs are not your thing (or not in your cupboard), then DR Gilliatt, or WD Mota would both be super starting points for pulling this one together.

I can’t help but see Yayoi Kusama’s joyful spots in this new cardigan by Danish chunky knits sensation, Mie Firring. The flat-knit-cardigan factor means there are no in-the-round shenanigans to deal with in regards to the intarsia circles. I’m not sure I’d go as far as MF does in calling this a beginner friendly pattern, but I definitely think this one’s a great candidate for a first intarsia project. Plus the extra spots that the cardie buttons bring to the party just makes it even more adorable.

She’s worked it at a standard chunky 14 stitch gauge, so the WYS Re:Treat or Gepard Puno are both ideal. Or if you’re feeling like being a bit more experimental, any of our worsteds held together with a 4ply or a mohair (now wouldn’t that be nice for the spots!?) would work just as well.

In all other respects it’s a plain, nicely shaped cardigan but it’s the asymmetry of the opening that called me back to SB’s Crooked for a second look. The lack of an overlap on the button band means you need to get a bit imaginative about fastenings, but I’m belatedly coming round to those nordic style clasps. Other options could be ties, loops or if you’re just too much of a button person, I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch to to add some button holes on one side and give the whole thing a little overlap.

It’s another chunky 14 stitch gauge, so single strand options would be RP’s Zagal, WYS Re:Treat or Gepard Puno, or for a totally different and more cuddly finish, the Gepard Teddy would also work.

Innusik’s intriguing sideways knit may have lots to be wary of – it’s all in separate pieces, the stocking stich row edges are going roll terribly at the top and bottom, and you need to continually start your work from different ends of the needle to keep those one row stripes working. And yet.. And yet, it’s just such a lovely design and fit. I love how extra she’s gone with the buttons, and that grown on neck has a special charm. So I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt. She’s up front about it needing yarn that can hold it’s own, so I think we should steer clear of anything alpaca-ish or slippery. Either RP’s Zagal or Matiz would be great (new stocks due in a week or 2 btw!) or go rogue and double strand it with a worsted plus a 4ply.

So you liked the simplicity of AM’s Shoreline further up this list, but chunky really isn’t your thing, and you quite fancy a project that’s got a few more details to get your teeth and your needles into. Perhaps the Sofia can oblige. This beautifully finished cardie by Mochiknits has that great shoulders-first construction so beloved of the new wave of Scandi designers, and then she’s added in extras like the collar and the split hem which are small but not inconsequential, so the finished jacket just has a beautifully well balanced coherence to it.

The pattern details are slightly confusing on the gauge front – she calls for a worsted and recommends a pretty heavy aran, but wants you to knit it on 4mm needles to get a 24 stitch gauge. I can only imagine that would create a steel-like fabric, so with the proviso that I haven’t knitted or swatched for this one yet, I’m going to suggest that you could go a bit lighter than the designer, and settle with a nice DK like WYS Morris, Pure, Bluefaced Leicester or Laxtons Sheepsoft.

There’s so much to love in the Eksta – EÅ has marvellously pulled together threads of geography, history, yarn, construction and design to create a cardigan which also looks like it will be enormous fun to knit. Constrasting textures in the colourwork around the raglans in deceptively simple 2 colour repeats, will provide a perfect balance of knittable and interesting.

Yarn-wise, I can’t see past our more sheepy undyeds, partly to honour the stories in Erika’s book, but also just because they seem to really suit the design. It’s a DK gauge so I’m looking at WYS Jacob, WYS Bluefaced Leicester, Laxtons Sheepsoft, and Uist Wool DK.