Trendsetter Yarns Impress Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Trendsetter Yarns Impress Shawl Collared Jacket

What is Being Made

The Trendsetter Yarns Impress Shawl Collared Jacket is a knitted cardigan featuring a distinctive shawl collar construction. This garment is designed to fit bust measurements of 36, 41, 46, and 51 inches across four size options (Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large). The jacket features a straight body with a more fitted yoke area, creating a flattering silhouette that transitions from relaxed through the torso to a shaped shoulder and neck region.

Techniques Used

This cardigan is constructed using a bottom-up seamed approach, meaning the pieces are knitted individually from the cast-on edge upward and then assembled together. The garment is worked flat on straight needles rather than in the round, allowing for traditional row-by-row construction of the front, back, and other components.

The pattern incorporates strategic color mixing techniques for creating striped effects. Knitters can work with two skeins of Trendsetter Impress simultaneously—one pulled from inside the skein and one from outside—to catch different color variations and create random stripe sequences. Alternatively, knitters may choose to work with a single color directly from the skein for a solid appearance.

Shaping is achieved through bind-offs and decreases. The armhole shaping begins with binding off stitches at the beginning of rows, followed by single-stitch decreases worked every other row. The front pieces incorporate increases at the neck edge to create the shawl collar effect, with increases worked every fourth row initially, then every second row to build the collar depth and width.

Stitches Used

• Stockinette Stitch (Stock St.): The primary stitch throughout most of the garment. Worked by knitting all stitches on right-side rows and purling all stitches on wrong-side rows, creating the classic smooth, V-textured fabric.
• Ribbed Stitch (Rib St.): Alternating knit and purl stitches (K1, P1 pattern) that create vertical columns of texture. This stitch is used in the yoke area and the shawl collar, providing elasticity and a refined finished appearance.

Materials and Specifications

This pattern calls for Trendsetter Yarns Impress yarn in color #102. Yardage requirements vary by size: Small requires 4 skeins, while Medium, Large, and Extra Large each require 5 or 6 skeins of 150-gram weight. The pattern is worked on U.S. Size #6 knitting needles.

The recommended gauge is 22 stitches over 4 inches when working Stockinette Stitch with the #6 needle and Trendsetter Impress yarn. Achieving proper gauge is essential for the garment to fit correctly across all four size options.

Pattern Structure and Construction Details

The back piece is cast on with 100, 112, 126, or 140 stitches depending on size, and is worked in Stockinette Stitch for 17 inches from the cast-on edge. The stitch pattern then changes to Ribbed Stitch and continues until the piece measures 19, 19, 20, or 20 inches total from the cast-on. Armhole shaping is initiated by binding off 5, 6, 8, or 10 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows, followed by decreasing one stitch at each end every other row for 4, 6, 8, or 10 rows. The armhole depth measures 8, 8.5, 9, or 9.5 inches before all stitches are bound off in pattern.

Each front piece begins with 50, 56, 63, or 70 stitches and mirrors the back's Stockinette Stitch section for 17 inches. The front pieces then transition to Ribbed Stitch while simultaneously increasing one stitch at the neck edge every fourth row for 6 increases, then every second row for 18 increases. This creates the characteristic shawl collar that extends upward and outward from the neckline. Armhole shaping on the front occurs at the same point as the back, with the same bind-off and decrease sequence applied to the arm-side edge. The pattern includes instructions for binding off the first set of stitches and keeping remaining stitches active in Ribbed Stitch for an additional 4 inches to complete the collar construction.