The night is clear. The sky is full of stars. The stillness is broken by a rustling in the undergrowth. You glance down and …it’s full of cats!

We’ve bred all our kittens white
So you can see them in the night
And at night we’re on our knees
Nick Cave - God Is In The House

In The Night is a cropped sweater, designed to be worn with a little ease. The yoke is speckled with stars, and the hem features cats lurking in the bushes, up to no good. The sleeves have a little bit of puff, and some gentle colourwork.

Yarn
Bear In Sheep’s Clothing: Corriedale Halo, 400g/100m
Main colour: Reaper
CC1: Natural - for the stars and the cats
CC2: Shire - for the undergrowth and sleeve colourwork

This sweater wants a yarn with a bit of tooth - the colourwork has long floats and will definitely benefit from some behind-the-scenes felting - but also a bit of drape, to stop the sleeves becoming too structural. I recommend using wool or a wool blend. Long-stapled wools like Blue Faced Leicester or Wensleydale will provide a bit of drape, as would some silk or yak in the blend.

You can knit this with whatever colours you want, but the stars won’t look as starry if they’re not light against a dark background. There’s no reason that the cats can’t be in a darker colour; they don’t need to use the same shade of yarn as the stars.

This sweater is designed to be worn with between 10 and 40cm (4” - 16”) of ease in the body - but of course you can wear it with more or less than that if you want. If you’re planning on a close-fitting sweater with negative ease you’ll need to knit 5 - 10cm (2” - 4”) more before starting the cat chart to get the same length once it’s worn.