Women's Braided Cable Cardigan in Plymouth Yarn Sophia Tweed

Women's Braided Cable Cardigan in Plymouth Yarn Sophia Tweed

What is Being Made

This is a women's cardigan featuring a distinctive braided cable pattern as the focal design element. The cardigan is available in six sizes ranging from Small to XXXL, with finished chest measurements from 31 ¼ inches up to 52 inches. The garment is designed with a length of 26 to 29 inches (excluding fringe) and features 12-inch sleeves measured from the underarm. The cardigan includes a button front closure with five buttons and is constructed as a seamless raglan-style piece.

Construction Technique

This knitting pattern employs a sophisticated seamless construction method. The body of the cardigan is worked entirely in one piece using circular needles, which eliminates the need for seaming and creates a smooth, professional finish. The sleeves are initially worked in the round using double-pointed needles until the armhole shaping begins. Once the armholes are established, the sleeves are joined directly to the body and all pieces are worked together seamlessly for the raglan shaping. This technique allows for precise fit and eliminates visible seams along the raglan lines.

Stitches Used

The pattern incorporates several key stitch techniques:

• Braided Cable Pattern: The signature design element, worked over a multiple of 9 stitches plus 3. This pattern repeats over 4 rows and alternates between cable crosses worked on the right side (C4F and C4B cable stitches) and knit-purl combinations on the wrong side. The C4F (cable 4 front) and C4B (cable 4 back) stitches create the distinctive braided appearance by crossing groups of 4 stitches over one another.
• Stockinette Stitch (st st): Used for the main body fabric surrounding the braided cable sections, providing a smooth, classic knit base.
• Reverse Stockinette Stitch: Applied to the edge stitches (first and last stitches) to create a neat selvage and frame the braided cable pattern.
• 2x2 Ribbing (k2 sts, p2 sts): Used for finishing edges and creating elastic cuffs and waistband areas that provide shape and comfort.
• Decreases: The pattern uses ssk (slip, slip, knit) and k2tog (knit 2 together) decreases for shaping the neckline and raglan armholes.

Gauge and Needle Information

Proper gauge is essential for achieving the correct finished measurements. The pattern specifies three different gauges depending on the stitch being worked:

• Stockinette stitch: 12 stitches and 20 rows equal 4 inches on US Size 11 (8mm) needles
• 2x2 ribbing: 14 stitches equal 4 inches on US Size 11 (8mm) needles
• Braided cable pattern: 21 stitches equal 5 ½ inches on US Size 11 (8mm) needles

The pattern requires US Size 11 (8mm) circular needles in both 16-inch and 40-inch lengths for working the body and sleeves, as well as US Size 11 (8mm) double-pointed needles for the in-the-round sleeve sections. Additional notions include a cable needle for executing the cable crosses, four stitch markers for tracking pattern repeats and shaping points, and a stitch holder for temporarily securing stitches during construction.

Materials

This cardigan is designed to be knitted using Plymouth Yarn Sophia Tweed in color 5. The yardage requirements vary by size, ranging from 4 balls (100g each) for the smallest size to 7 balls for the largest sizes. Plymouth Yarn Sophia Tweed is a tweed-textured yarn that adds visual interest and texture to the braided cable design. The pattern also calls for five buttons from Dill #450082 in a 45mm size for the front closure.

Pattern Features

The pattern is written with the smallest size as the base instruction, with larger sizes provided in parentheses throughout. This format allows knitters to easily track their specific size while following the instructions. The braided cable pattern can be worked from either written row-by-row instructions or from a provided chart. When using the chart, all wrong-side rows are read from left to right, while all right-side rows are read from right to left, following standard chart-reading conventions for flat knitting