Trendsetter B Cabled Border Swing Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Trendsetter B Cabled Border Swing Cardigan

What is Being Made

The Trendsetter B Cabled Border Swing Cardigan is a women's cardigan sweater designed by Barry Klein. This garment features a distinctive swing silhouette with generous ease, particularly at the hip where the swing provides approximately 6 inches of additional width beyond the finished bust measurement. The cardigan is available in four sizes ranging from Small to Extra Large, with finished bust measurements of 33, 37, 41, and 45 inches respectively. The design incorporates a cabled border detail at the neckline on the front panels, making it a statement piece suitable for advanced knitters.

Techniques Used

This advanced-level knitting pattern employs several key techniques that distinguish it as a project for experienced knitters. Cable knitting is the primary decorative technique, featured prominently in the Right Front Cable section where stitches are manipulated using a cable needle to create crossed stitch patterns. The pattern requires armhole shaping through strategic bind-offs and decreases worked at regular intervals to create proper sleeve cap fit. Positive ease construction is used throughout, with the finished garment intentionally sized 3 inches larger than the intended bust fit, and the swing element adding even more generous drape. The cardigan construction follows a traditional set-in sleeve method with marker placement to indicate where sleeve caps will eventually be joined. Knitters must be comfortable with reading complex stitch patterns, managing multiple stitch counts across different sections, and maintaining consistent gauge throughout the project.

Stitches Used

The pattern utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined with advanced cable work:

• Ribbed Stitch (Rib St.): Alternating knit and purl stitches (K1, P1) worked in a repeating pattern. This stitch is used for the initial 1-inch cuff at the cast-on edge of both the back and front pieces, providing elasticity and a finished edge.
• Stockinette Stitch (St. St.): The primary stitch throughout the body of the cardigan, created by knitting all stitches on right-side rows and purling all stitches on wrong-side rows. This creates the smooth, flat fabric that forms the main body of the garment.
• Cable Stitches: Featured in the Right Front Cable pattern, these involve slipping stitches onto a cable needle, holding them to the front or back of the work, and then knitting stitches from the main needle before knitting the held stitches. The pattern specifies cable crosses worked every 6 rows, creating the characteristic twisted rope texture at the neckline edge.

Materials and Tools

This project requires Trendsetter Yarns Blink yarn in color #2113. The yardage needed varies by size: 10 skeins for Small, 12 skeins for Medium, 14 skeins for Large, and 16 skeins for Extra Large, with each skein weighing 50 grams. Size #8 U.S. knitting needles are required to achieve the specified gauge of 18 stitches and 24 rows per 4 inches in Stockinette Stitch. A cable needle is essential for manipulating the cable stitches in the front border pattern. Stitch markers are needed to indicate armhole placement points on the back piece.

Pattern Details and Construction

The cardigan is constructed in three main pieces: a back panel and two front panels. The back begins with a cast-on of 82 to 106 stitches depending on size, worked in ribbed stitch for 1 inch before transitioning to Stockinette Stitch. The body is worked straight until reaching 8.5 inches from the cast-on edge, where stitch markers are placed at each side to denote the armhole line. Construction continues until the piece measures 16 to 17 inches from the cast-on, at which point armhole shaping begins with bind-offs and decreases worked over several rows to reduce the stitch count to 64 to 76 stitches. The armhole depth varies from 8 to 9.5 inches depending on size.

The Right Front features a specialized cable pattern at the neckline edge using 13 stitches, while the remaining 66 to 78 stitches are worked in plain Stockinette Stitch for the body. The cable pattern is worked over 8 rows, with cable crosses occurring on Row 7 where two sets of 2-stitch cables are crossed. This creates an intricate textured border that frames the neckline. The front piece is worked until