15% off introduction offer for “Flocke” (and all my other designs, too) until Sunday, 7th of march 2021, midnight. No coupon code needed.

Flocke” (or rather “Schneeflocke”) is the German word for snowflake – and the name of a polar bear born in the zoo of Nuremberg, Germany, a few months after the famous Knut of Berlin.

This open front cardigan has a classic look, with the Snowflake Stitch on back hem, cuffs and collar, but its unusual construction makes it interesting to knit – and if you run out of yarn early, the only consequence will be that the cardigan will have a bit of a gap at the front.

Yarn & gauge
22 sts x 33 rows in Stockinette, 22 sts x 40 rows in Snowflake Stitch, both with needle 3,75mm.
Approx. 1200/ 1300/ 1400/ 1500/ 1600 m of a Sport weight or light DK yarn needed

5 sizes available: S, M, L, XL; XXL with a back width of 48,5/ 54/ 59,5/ 65,5/ 70cm (that is 19/ 21/ 23,5/ 25,5/ 27,5 inches).

My yarn suggestions:

• Rowan Felted Tweed (175m/ 50g, 50% Merino, 25% Alpaca, 25% Rayon)
• Ruppert Garne Camellana (350m/ 50, 100% Camel) with 2 strands held together - choose 2 different colors which are close together for the “Tweed effect”
• Ruppert Garne Soft Donegal (190m/ 50g, 100% wool), or the new Mohair Tweed (200m/ 50g, 30% Mohair (goat), 70% wool) –
• In case of using a yarn without Tweed effect, choose a semi-solid one or one with a few speckles.

You could easily work at a gauge of 24 sts and go up a size.

Construction overview
Step 1: Work back, first the hem in in Snowflake Stitch. Continue in Pearl Stitch to where the slanted shoulder begins
Step 2: Pick up sts from back for sleeves (with provisional cast-on for front side of sleeves) and work sleeves in Pearl Stitch top-down with decreases, ending with a cuff in Snowflake Stitch.
Step 3: Pick up sts from the edges of the back for fronts, undo provisional sleeve sts, resuming the live stitches of the back in between, so the row will start at the right hem and end at the left one. Work front in Pearl Stitch; the back neck will be contracted by using a slip stitch pattern, with decreases for the slanted shoulders. With the help of short rows on fronts only, so that the back neck will only get half of the height.
Step 4: Continue with collar in Snowflake Stitch using “tucked” rows on the back neck to reduce height.