Lopi Waves Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Lopi Waves Cardigan

What Is Being Made

The Lopi Waves is a seamless, bottom-up knitted cardigan available in four sizes: Small (chest 91 cm), Medium (101 cm), Large (111 cm), and Extra Large (121 cm). This garment features a sophisticated wave pattern created through stranded colorwork and is worked primarily in the round for a modern, fitted construction. The cardigan includes set-in sleeves with underarm shaping and a total length ranging from 38 to 44 cm depending on size.

Techniques Used

The Lopi Waves employs several advanced knitting techniques to achieve its distinctive aesthetic and structure:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The cardigan is knitted from the lower edge upward, allowing for easy length adjustments and intuitive fit modifications during the knitting process.
• Seamless, Worked-in-the-Round: The body and sleeves are primarily constructed in circular knitting, eliminating the need for seaming and creating a smooth, continuous fabric with minimal finishing work.
• Stranded Colorwork: The signature wave pattern is created using the stranded knitting technique, where two colors are carried across the fabric to form the intricate design charted in Chart 2. This method produces a dense, durable fabric with excellent stitch definition.
• Strategic Decreases: Shaping is achieved through evenly spaced decreases worked at specific intervals (such as rnd 25 with 31 sts decreased, and rnd 42 with 30, 38, 46, or 54 sts decreased depending on size) to create the fitted silhouette and sleeve cap shaping.
• Set-In Sleeves: The sleeves are joined to the body after separate construction, with stitches placed on holders at the underarm for a professional, tailored fit.

Stitches Used

The Lopi Waves utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined with colorwork techniques:

• Knit Stitch (K): The primary stitch throughout the garment, forming the base fabric in stockinette stitch.
• Stranded Colorwork Stitches: Knit stitches worked in two colors according to Chart 2, creating the wave motif by carrying the unused color inside the fabric.
• Decreases (dec): Evenly spaced decreases are worked to shape the garment at the waist and sleeve cap. These are distributed across rounds to maintain pattern integrity and create smooth shaping lines.
• Stitch Holders: Used to hold stitches at the underarm (11 to 16 stitches depending on size) during construction, allowing for seamless joining of body and sleeve sections.

Materials

The Lopi Waves is designed to be worked with Lopi yarn, a traditional Icelandic wool known for its warmth and durability. The pattern is worked on 4½mm circular needles, which are sized to create the appropriate gauge for the stranded colorwork technique. The yarn is worked in at least two colors (referenced as color A and the charted pattern colors) to achieve the wave design. Sleeve length to underarm ranges from 46 to 49 cm across sizes, and the garment reaches its full length of 38 to 44 cm before the edging is added, with a note that the edging rolls up slightly during finishing.