Wainthropp – A New Cardigan Pattern

I’m really happy about finally being able to share Wainthropp, my new cardigan pattern, with you because the release date for this poor cardigan kept getting moved around! I had been planning on taking photos of it in October, but the remnants of a tsunami hit western Washington the weekend I was going to take pictures at a beach house, and everything got cancelled because of the storm. So I didn’t even bother sewing on the buttons when I found out that was going to happen because I wanted to keep looking for better buttons (that I never found), and into the finishing pile it went! I finally added the original buttons I picked out so it’d be ready for photos, but it continued to be stormy every time I planned a shoot. That’s the downside to living in Seattle. In the end, I took it with me to visit my parents in Northern California over Thanksgiving, and the pattern is finally here!

My inspiration for Wainthropp was a little bit of nostalgia for early- and mid-2000s knitting patterns that were so quirky and crafty. I loved how freeing that period of crafting was because there wasn’t pressure to make everything polished and indistinguishable from store-bought clothing. I wanted to design something that was cute but obviously homemade. Details like reverse stockinette ridges, garter stitch button bands, and extra long sleeves make Wainthropp adorably unpolished. The combination of different textures and lace stripes aren’t just about the final look; they also keep the knitting process interesting

Like most of my cropped cardigan patterns, Wainthropp is knit seamlessly from the top down. The body is knit first, and then sleeves are picked up around the armholes and shaped using short rows. The construction will be familiar if you’ve knit my patterns before, which will allow you to focus on the lace and textures. Then pattern comes in seven sizes, ranging from 29.5 in to 53 in finished bust circumferences. You should choose a size with 1-4 in of negative ease through the bust for the best fit. You can find Wainthropp on Ravelry or in the Untangling Knots pattern shop.