Lana Grossa Men's Jacket Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Lana Grossa Men's Jacket in Cool Wool Big

What Is Being Made

This is a men's cardigan jacket (Design 36 from the Merino Edition collection) available in three sizes: 48/50, 52/54, and 56/58. The garment is a structured knit jacket featuring a button-front closure with five 20 mm buttons, making it suitable for layering and everyday wear.

Construction Techniques

The Lana Grossa Men's Jacket is constructed using a bottom-up, seamed, and worked-flat approach. This method involves knitting individual pieces separately on flat needles, then assembling them together with seams. The bottom-up construction means the knitter begins at the lower edges and works upward toward the shoulders and neckline, allowing for easy fitting adjustments and try-ons during the knitting process.

The jacket pieces are worked in a traditional flat knitting method rather than in-the-round, which provides more control over shaping and seam placement. Once all pieces are completed, they are seamed together to create the finished garment.

Stitches Used

• Ribbed Pattern (K2, P2): A 2x2 knit-purl rib used for the cuffs and welts. This elastic stitch pattern creates a fitted, stretchy fabric that hugs the wrists and hem, providing structure and recovery.
• Stockinette Stitch (St st): The primary fabric stitch, created by knitting all stitches on right-side rows and purling all stitches on wrong-side rows. This produces a smooth, classic knit fabric with a V-shaped texture on the front.
• Full-Fashion Double Decreases: Decorative decreases worked at the edges of sleeve caps and other shaping areas. These decreases are positioned inward from the selvage stitches, creating a refined, tailored appearance rather than decreases worked at the very edge. The full-fashion technique uses a combination of knit-through-the-back-loop stitches and centered double decreases (k3tog and sk2p) to create visually balanced shaping lines.
• Selvage Stitches: Edge stitches maintained throughout to create neat, finished edges that are easier to seam together.

Shaping and Sleeve Construction

The sleeves are shaped with strategic increases and decreases. The left sleeve begins with 50 (54, 58) cast-on stitches, increased to 52 (58, 64) stitches after the ribbed cuff. Increases are worked at each end of the sleeve at regular intervals (every 8th row, or alternating 6th and 8th rows, depending on size) to create a gradual cap sleeve that accommodates arm movement. The sleeve cap is then shaped with progressive bind-offs and full-fashion double decreases to create a tailored, fitted armhole.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

The jacket is knitted with Lana Grossa Cool Wool Big, a 100% pure wool yarn. The yardage requirements are 600 (700, 750) grams depending on size, which equates to approximately 120 meters per 50 grams. The color used in this pattern is Charcoal (col 618), a neutral shade suitable for men's wear.

Needles and Tools

The pattern requires two sizes of needles to create the proper gauge and fabric structure:

• Size 3.5 mm needles: Used for the ribbed cuffs and welts, where the smaller needle size creates a tighter, more elastic fabric.
• Size 4 mm needles: Used for the main body and sleeves in stockinette stitch, creating a slightly more relaxed gauge for the primary fabric.
• Size 3.5 mm circular needle (80 cm long): Used for any sections worked in-the-round, such as neckband finishing.

The pattern also calls for five 20 mm buttons for the front closure, which should be selected to complement the charcoal wool.

Pattern Structure and Sizing

Instructions are provided for the smallest size (48/50) with additional measurements and stitch counts given in parentheses for the two larger sizes (52/54 and 56/58). This graduated sizing system allows knitters to customize the fit while following a single set of instructions. Sleeve length varies by size (50 cm for size 48/50, 48 cm for