The Catharsis Cardigan

An all over colour work pattern inspired by a tile pattern from a trip to Barcelona that it turns out is a motif common in many different regional colour work styles. The cardigan is knit flat from the bottom up with a deep round neck or V-neck and double-knit button bands. Ribbing is knit downward once provisional cast-ons are undone after seaming is finished allowing the length to be easily adjusted at the end of knitting.

The neckband is picked up and worked before seaming on the button band and is knit double then the live stitches are sewn down on the inside. All pieces feature garter stitch selvedge seams and either a double row of plain stockinette or an alternating vertical motif. Drop shoulders allow for an easy and relaxed garment and the short rows at the shoulder can either be worked in the colour work motif or in the background colour only as desired by the knitter.

Please select the bust size with the amount of ease you wish, the fabric that is created is quite dense and warm and may be best suited as an outer layer for many knitters. The deep round neck allows the easy layering of a variety of different collar types underneath. The V-neck version has a slightly more casual feel and retains the structure and beauty of the round neck version.

The sleeves in the pattern are custom to each knitter. There is a detailed sleeve section with charts and a calculator to create a sleeve that truly fits you. The drop shoulder allows for the sleeve to be easily set into the the body for an excellent fit.

When finishing the cardigan please follow the order of operation in the pattern as it will allow you to fit any sleeve to any body pieces and then create the best final option.

Finally the increases and decreases on the pattern are not charted in the colour work, you will need to work new stitches into the pattern on the right side row worked after the increase.

Skills and Techniques
-Knit & purl
-Decreasing
-Increasing
-Specialty CO: provisional
-Specialty BO: Tubular 1x1 (sewn 2 needle method)
-Working in the round on circular needles
-Working small circumferences in the round on DPNs/with magic loop/with two circulars
-Working Colourwork Flat
-Seaming
-Reading Charts
-Double Knitting
-Working from charts
-Short rows
-Stranded colorwork
-Picking up stitches
-Kitchener stitch/grafting
-German Short Rows

Construction

Knit flat from provisional cast-ons. Once the pieces are finished they are seamed, after seaming cast-ons are undone and ribbing is knit downward seamlessly. After all of this finishing the collar and or neckbands are knit separately and seamed on.

Yarn Used and How to Substitute

The samples were both knit using Spincycle Yarns Dream State and a DK weight yarn from Outlaw Yarn.

Round Neck Version

• Outlaw Yarn Nyx (special edition) Proserpine
• Spincycle Yarn Dream State Light Years

V-neck Version

• Outlaw Yarn Nouveau Parchment
• Spincycle Yarn Dream State in Shades of the Earth

Please note when substituting yarn any DK weight yarn will yield a beautiful result. The magic in this cardigan is in the colour work and so I would suggest 100% Wool Yarns in highly contrasting colours for the best results.

A NOTE ON METERAGE

The final meterage for the pattern varies greatly. The amount of contrast colour needed is for the full finishing versions where button bands and collars are finished as per the samples. Your choices on the pattern will make a significant different in meterage.

A massive thank you to Kate, Rachel, and the entire Spincycle team for all their help and support with this design! Here’s to many future collaborations!