Once upon a time, my mom bought me two cotton cardigans– one orange and one yellow– and they quickly became staples of my wardrobe. Even after I moved to a cooler climate, I still pulled them out every spring and summer because they were the perfect light layering pieces. Well, those cardigans are well over ten years old at this point, and earlier this year, when I realized how old they were, I decided it was time to knit some replacements.
I wanted a basic but not-to-plain cardigan with ¾-length sleeves and knit in a cool plant fiber. I chose Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy, a DK-weight cotton, hemp, and rayon blend; I picked out a stitch pattern that I had rejected for a previous project but still loved; and I got to work creating my new pattern Tierney!
Tierney is knit seamlessly but in an unusual order. The pattern begins with the waistband, which is knit from side to side, in a long strip using a textured stitch pattern the features wrapped stitches and eyelets. Knitting the waistband separately makes it easier to make adjustments for gauge differences between the textured pattern and stockinette, and it also makes the beginning of the cardigan wonderfully portable. I took mine on vacation to the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekender, and it was great having something that was as small as my friends’ socks to work on.
Once the waistband is complete, it’s bound off, and stitches are picked up from the long edge for the body of the cardigan. The body of Tierney is knit from the bottom up, and the shoulders get joined with a 3-needle bind-off. After that, the sleeves are picked up around the armholes and knit seamlessly from the top down using short-row shaping. Button bands are added and feature sturdy one-row buttonholes.
Tierney comes in seven sizes with finished busts ranging from 30 in / 76 cm to 54 in / 137 cm, and it fits best with zero ease or a pinch of negative ease. You can find the pattern on Ravelry or here in the Untangling Knots shop.
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