Technical editing by Alison Green. Photo credit Jonathan Herzog.

Please note: This is the traditional version of Acorn Trail, with complete instructions in 10 sizes.

Acorn Trail is my first installment in the “Back Roads & Brownstones” series, a collaboration with Kirsten Kapur of “Through the Loops”. I always enjoy working with Kirsten; not only is she a wonderful person, but her design sensibilities are utterly fantastic and it’s awe-inspiring to trade ideas with her.

Back Roads & Brownstones is a fun play on where we both live; she’s in NYC, and I’m just outside of Boston.

But despite my current urban zip code, I grew up in rural Maine and have been a die-hard outdoorsy type my whole life. It seemed natural to start this series off with a cardigan I can imagine slipping on for a favorite hike through some beautiful foliage. Cables, a gorgeous tweedy wool, a little bit of openwork to keep things from being too heavy. Acorn Trail is a great layering piece, and a knockout on its own.

Acorn Trail is worked in pieces, from the bottom up, in Harrisville’s incredibly beautiful New England Highland. This is a sturdy, wool-lover’s wool, and the cardigan makes the most of its texture in intricate cable and lace panels. Despite the detailed look, the sweater is easy
to modify since the stitch patterning rests on a simple Stockinette base.

I can’t recommend this luscious tweedy yarn highly enough, but if you’d like to substitute you’ll need approximately 703 (783, 851, 905, 975, 1041, 1125, 1215, 1353, 1463) yds / 643 (717, 778, 828, 892, 952, 1029, 1112, 1238, 1339) m.

As with all patterns, compare the schematic against your own measurements and make alterations as necessary.

If you’d like to use CustomFit to make a “mash up” of Acorn Trail, you can do so - though it’s definitely not how I’d recommend you start using CustomFit! For more information on this process, please click here.