Malabrigo Lily Cape Knitting Pattern

Malabrigo Lily Cable Inset Ruana

What Is Being Made

The Malabrigo Lily is a cable inset ruana, a flowing poncho-style garment designed by Katharine Hunt. A ruana is a draped, cape-like wrap that provides generous coverage across the shoulders and back while remaining open at the front. This particular design features strategic cable work integrated into the construction, creating visual interest and texture throughout the piece. The finished garment measures approximately 16 inches across the front at the underarm and 32¼ inches across the back at the underarm, with a back length of 31 inches, making it a substantial layering piece suitable for various occasions and body types.

Knitting Techniques

The Malabrigo Lily employs several intermediate knitting techniques that work together to create its distinctive structure:

• Bottom-up construction: The ruana is knitted from the lower edges upward toward the neckline, allowing knitters to try on the garment as it grows and adjust length as needed.
• Worked flat: Rather than working in the round, this pattern is constructed using flat needles, which means rows are worked back and forth. This approach provides flexibility in shaping and makes cable work more accessible for many knitters.
• Seamless assembly: Despite being worked flat in separate pieces, the ruana is designed to join seamlessly at the center neck edge, where stitches are cast on to unite the left and right front sections before continuing to the back in one continuous piece.
• Cable integration: Cable stitches are worked as a distinct inset pattern rather than scattered throughout, creating defined cable panels that add textural depth and visual structure to the garment.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The Malabrigo Lily uses a limited but effective stitch palette appropriate for its beginner-to-intermediate skill level:

• Rice stitch: This textured stitch pattern forms the foundation of the design, worked in a simple alternating knit and purl sequence over four rows. Rice stitch creates a subtle, nubby texture that provides visual interest while remaining relatively simple to execute. It serves as the border and framing element around the cable insets.
• Cable stitches: Worked using a cable needle, the cable insets are the focal point of the design. The pattern includes a dedicated cable inset chart that knitters follow to create the raised, twisted rope-like texture characteristic of cable work. The cables are worked in 20-stitch repeats, allowing for consistent patterning across the width of the garment.
• Stockinette stitch: Implied within the cable inset chart sections, stockinette provides the smooth background against which the cables stand out in relief.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Malabrigo Lily is designed to showcase the qualities of premium merino wool yarn:

• Yarn: Rios by Malabrigo, a superwash merino wool, is the specified yarn for this project. Each hank contains 3½ ounces and approximately 210 yards. The pattern calls for 10 hanks in colorway #212 Gris, a neutral gray tone that allows the cable and rice stitch textures to take center stage. Superwash treatment makes the finished garment easy to care for while maintaining the softness and breathability characteristic of merino fiber.
• Needles: The pattern requires two sizes of straight needles: size 7 (4.5mm) and size 8 (5mm), used in pairs. Smaller needles are used for the initial rice stitch sections and ribbing, while larger needles are introduced when working the cable inset chart to create subtle gauge variation. The pattern also calls for circular needles in both sizes, each 32 inches long, for joining sections and working the upper portions of the garment.
• Additional tools: A cable needle is essential for manipulating stitches during cable work, and stitch markers help track pattern repeats and section boundaries. A size E/4 (3.5mm) crochet hook is included for finishing details.

Construction Overview

The Malabrigo Lily begins with the lower left front section, where 98 stitches are cast on and worked in rice stitch for 12 rows to establish the border. The lower front chart is then introduced, incorporating the first cable inset pattern while maintaining rice stitch edges. Once the piece reaches approximately 19½ inches from the cast-on edge, the pattern transitions to the cable inset chart worked on larger needles, creating a more pronounced cable texture for the upper portion. This