Lana Grossa Jacket Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Lana Grossa Benessere Jacket

What is Being Made

The Lana Grossa Benessere Jacket is a seamed cardigan designed in three sizes: 36/38, 40/42, and 44/46. This garment features a sophisticated blend of stitch patterns and shaping techniques, creating a structured yet elegant piece suitable for layering.

Craft and Construction Method

This jacket is created using the knitting craft, worked flat on needles and constructed bottom-up. The pieces are seamed together after individual components are completed, allowing for precise shaping and pattern alignment throughout the garment. This construction method provides excellent control over fit and enables the integration of multiple stitch patterns across different sections of the jacket.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns Used

The Benessere Jacket employs several distinct stitch patterns to create visual interest and texture:

• Rib Pattern (K1, P1): A classic knit-one, purl-one ribbing used as a foundational stitch, particularly at the lower edges of the garment for elasticity and definition.
• Half-Brioche Rib: A more advanced textured stitch worked over a multiple of 2 plus 1, plus 2 selvage stitches. This stitch creates a luxurious, dimensional fabric with excellent recovery and drape, characteristic of brioche-style knitting.
• Chart A Pattern: A detailed stitch pattern worked from a chart, establishing a 2-stitch pattern repeat that is worked multiple times across the front pieces (11 to 14 times depending on size). This creates a consistent, repeating motif throughout the garment.
• Chart B Pattern: A secondary charted pattern worked over 24 stitches, providing visual contrast and design complexity to the front panels.
• Pattern Shift or "Cable" (Charts B and C): A decorative cable or twisted stitch element that adds structural interest and three-dimensional texture to specific sections of the jacket.

Techniques Applied

The construction of this jacket incorporates several intermediate to advanced knitting techniques:

• Increases: Strategic increases are worked at the beginning of right-side rows to shape the side seams. The left front piece increases 1 stitch at the beginning of a row, repeated every 16 rows four times, then every 14 rows five times, building from 48 (50, 54) stitches to 58 (60, 64) stitches. This gradual shaping creates a fitted silhouette.
• Bind-Off Shaping: Shoulder shaping is achieved through strategic bind-offs at the beginning of right-side rows. Multiple stitches are bound off in a graduated sequence to create the armhole and shoulder slope, with varying numbers depending on the size being knitted.
• Chart Reading: The pattern requires following detailed stitch charts with row-by-row instructions, indicated by numbers on both the right edge (for right-side rows) and left edge (for wrong-side rows).
• Pattern Placement: The jacket demonstrates sophisticated pattern placement, with different stitch patterns (Chart A, Chart B, and cable elements) positioned strategically across the front panels and worked simultaneously.
• Reversing Shaping and Patterns: The right front is worked as a mirror image of the left front, with shapings and pattern placements reversed to create a balanced, symmetrical garment.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

The Benessere Jacket is designed to be worked in Lana Grossa Benessere yarn, a premium blend fiber consisting of 45% cotton, 32% alpaca, and 23% polyamide. This fiber composition creates a fabric with excellent breathability from the cotton content, softness and warmth from the alpaca, and durability and elasticity from the polyamide. The yarn is worked at a gauge of 125 meters per 50 grams.

Yardage requirements vary by size: 700 grams (approximately 1,750 meters) for size 36/38, 750 grams (approximately 1,875 meters) for size 40/42, and 800 grams (approximately 2,000 meters) for size 44/46.

The jacket is constructed using size 6 mm needles, which are appropriately scaled to work the yarn at the intended gauge and create the desired fabric density and drape.