Louisa Harding Gildas Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Louisa Harding Gildas Cardigans and Scarves

What is Being Made

The Louisa Harding Gildas collection features knitted cardigans and scarves designed with versatile styling options. The primary project included in this pattern is a shrug or shawl that offers dual functionality—it can be worn as either a shawl or a shrug depending on how it is fastened. The design incorporates small buttonholes worked into the ribbed sections, with buttons sewn to the opposite side of the rib. When buttoned, the ribs transform into shrug sleeve cuffs, allowing for customizable wear.

Techniques Used

This knitting pattern employs lace techniques combined with worked flat construction, meaning the pieces are knitted back and forth on straight needles rather than in the round. The pattern utilizes a picot cast on method to create decorative edging at the beginning of the project. Cable techniques are incorporated throughout, requiring the use of a cable needle to create textured stitch patterns. The garment is designed with careful attention to yarn color progression, advising knitters to select yarn balls that begin with matching colors and to transition between balls by matching the ending color of one ball to the starting color of the next, preventing strong color striping in the finished piece.

Stitches Used

The pattern employs a comprehensive range of knitting stitches and abbreviations:

• Basic stitches: Knit (K), purl (P), and stockinette stitch (st st)
• Increase techniques: Make one (M1) and yarn over (yo)
• Decrease techniques: Knit two together (K2tog) and slip, slip, knit (SSK)
• Cable stitches: C6B (cable 6 back) and C6F (cable 6 front), created by slipping stitches onto a cable needle and holding them to the back or front while knitting
• Structural elements: Garter stitch (knit every row), ribbing for cuffs and button bands, and slip stitch marker (SSM) for pattern tracking

The pattern also includes standard abbreviations for shaping: decreases (dec), increases (inc), repeats (rep), and directional references (right side/RS, wrong side/WS).

Materials and Needles

This pattern is designed to be worked with Louisa Harding Amitola yarn, a single-spun yarn requiring specific handling during the cast-on process. The pattern recommends using the cable cast on method rather than the thumb method, as the single-spun nature of Amitola means that constant twisting during thumb cast-on can weaken the yarn and cause it to break. Knitters will need 4 mm (US 6) needles for the main fabric and a cable needle for working cable stitches. The pattern also requires small buttons for fastening the shrug/shawl configuration.