Valley Yarns Light Roast Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Light Roast Cardigan

What Is Being Made

The Light Roast Cardigan is a cropped cardigan sweater designed by Kirsten Hipsky, inspired by Western Massachusetts coffee culture. This knitted garment features wavy, lacy details and is available in six finished sizes ranging from 32 inches to 52 inches. The cardigan is designed to be worn at a soft, somewhat loose gauge and showcases the subtle color palette of a light-roasted coffee bean.

Techniques Used

This intermediate-level knitting project employs several key construction techniques:

• Set-in cap sleeves: Sleeves are picked up from the armhole and worked downward, which eliminates the need for tricky seaming at the sleeve cap
• Lace patterning: Wavy, lacy stitch details are worked into the lower body using yarn overs and decreases to create visual interest
• Seaming: The cardigan uses seamed construction for joining body pieces
• Buttonholes: Functional buttonholes are incorporated into the front opening
• Button bands: Nine 0.5-inch buttons are used to close the cardigan front

Stitches Used

The Light Roast Cardigan employs a combination of fundamental and decorative stitches:

• Stockinette stitch (St st): The primary stitch used for the main body fabric
• Garter stitch: Used for edge stitches and selvage detail (knit every row)
• Yarn overs (yo): Create the lacy, open details characteristic of the design
• Knit two together (k2tog): A right-leaning decrease used in both lace and shaping
• Slip, slip, knit (ssk): A left-leaning decrease used in lace patterning
• Make one right (m1R) and make one left (m1L): Increases used to create the wavy stitch pattern

The stitch pattern is a 12-stitch repeat worked over 12 rows, combining decreases, yarn overs, and increases to create the signature wavy, lacy texture.

Materials

The Light Roast Cardigan is knitted using Valley Yarns Charlemont, a luxury blend yarn in the color Fawn. The yarn composition is 60% Fine Superwash Merino, 20% Mulberry Silk, and 20% Polyamide, with each skein containing 100 grams and 439 yards of yardage. Depending on the finished size, the project requires between 2 and 3 skeins of yarn.

The pattern calls for two needle sizes: US size 5 (3.75mm) needles for the main body worked in stockinette stitch at a gauge of 6 stitches and 8 rows per inch, and US size 4 (3.50mm) needles for the lace pattern sections, also at 6 stitches and 8 rows per inch in pattern stitch. Additional materials include 2 stitch markers to track side seams and 9 buttons measuring 0.5 inches each for the cardigan closure.

Gauge and Sizing

The pattern is designed to be worked at a gauge of 6 stitches and 8 rows to 1 inch in stockinette stitch with the smaller needles and in the lace pattern stitch with the larger needles. Six finished sizes are provided: 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, and 52 inches, with the sample shown in size 36 inches. The cropped length measures approximately 11.5 to 14 inches from the cast-on edge to the armhole, depending on the size and desired finished length.