Valley Yarns Lenticular Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Lenticular Cardigan

What is Being Made

The Valley Yarns Lenticular Cardigan is an unshaped, cascading cardigan designed by Kirsten Hipsky. This garment features a finished size of approximately 64 inches wide, 26 inches long, and 20 inches across the back. The cardigan is characterized by its simple construction without shaping, allowing the fabric and colorwork to be the primary design elements.

Craft and Project Type

This is a knitting project classified as an intermediate-level cardigan. The design showcases a beautiful interplay of hand-dyed colors and slip-stitch patterning that creates a brocade effect resembling soft, cloud-like shapes with sunlight filtering through them.

Construction Techniques

The Lenticular Cardigan is constructed using the following techniques:

• Bottom-up construction: The cardigan is knitted starting from the lower body and working upward
• Worked flat: The piece is knitted flat on circular needles rather than in the round
• Seamless design: The pattern is engineered to minimize or eliminate seaming requirements

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The Lenticular Cardigan employs a sophisticated combination of fundamental and decorative stitches:

• Stockinette stitch: The base stitch used throughout much of the garment
• Slip stitch: A key decorative element used extensively to create the lenticular pattern effect. Slipped stitches are worked with yarn held in back on right-side rows and yarn held in front on wrong-side rows
• Yarn overs (yo): Used to create openwork elements and increase stitches strategically within the pattern
• Knit two together (k2tog): A right-leaning decrease used to shape the pattern
• Slip, slip, knit (ssk): A left-leaning decrease that balances the k2tog decreases
• Purl stitches: Used on wrong-side rows to create the proper fabric texture

Colorwork and Pattern Details

The design features a two-color slip-stitch brocade pattern that creates dimensional, cloud-like shapes. The pattern repeat spans 12 rows and uses two colors strategically:

• Color A creates the primary decorative slip-stitch motifs with yarn overs that form delicate openwork elements
• Color B provides structural rows and creates the foundation for the pattern
• Double yarn overs with slipped stitches in the middle create the distinctive lenticular effect
• The pattern requires careful attention to yarn-over placement to ensure stitches stay properly positioned between slipped stitches

Gauge and Sizing

The pattern is worked to a gauge of 4.5 stitches and 8 rows per inch in the pattern stitch after blocking. Stockinette stitch gauge is also 4.5 stitches per inch. The lower body begins with 291 cast-on stitches, which increase to 339 stitches after the first pattern row due to yarn overs, then decrease back to 291 stitches by row 5.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

Yarn: Valley Yarns Northfield Hand Dyed is used for this project. This premium yarn contains 70% Merino wool, 20% Baby Alpaca, and 10% Silk, offering a luxurious fiber blend. Each 100-gram skein yields 248 yards. The pattern requires 5 skeins of Bermuda Turquoise (Color A) and 3 skeins of Limoncello (Color B), providing approximately 1,984 yards total yardage.

Needles: US size 7 (4.50mm) circular needles measuring 40 inches in length are recommended, or the size needed to achieve the specified gauge. Circular needles are used for this flat-worked project to accommodate the width of the garment.

Pattern Progression

The lower body is worked in a 12-row repeat pattern until the piece reaches 12 inches or the desired length to the armholes, with the repeat ending on either row 5 or row 11 to maintain pattern consistency. The slip-stitch