Published: 26 April 2020

Yoked cardigan for Louise

Yoked cardigan I started to knit Fair Isle yokes onto machine-knit jumper and cardigan bodies as a teenager and my love for them has never waned. There's so much scope for making each one different.

I have a knitting machine but it's not been used for years as I find hand knitting more relaxing. One day I may get it out again but for the time being I hand knit everything, using double pointed needles and makkin (knitting belt).

This is the newest cardigan, knitted from Jamieson's of Shetland double knitting (DK) yarn I'd bought a while ago but hadn't got round to using. The main colour is Blue Danube and I used small amounts of other DK colours for the yoke, with Blue Danube as a background in the middle rows. Stocking stitch is quite boring so I chose a textured pattern, Purl-Twist Knot, from "A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns" by Barbara G Walker. The main pattern in the yoke is from "Selbu strikkebok", ISBN: 978-82-8205-673-1.

The construction is the same as Benniegio cardigan but the 2 main differences  are (1) I switched to Spindrift (thinner) yarn for the Benniego yoke which meant I needed to add stitches and use thinner needles for the yoke and (2) in this one I knitted the yoke before I knitted the sleeves, similar to Jolbeth's construction. I didn't use short rows in any of these yoked garments. 

I have added annotated photos which may be helpful for other knitters, just vexed I can't control the order in which they appear.