I found myself dying and spinning some Colonial top in Gunmetal grey, Salmon orange, and shades of green early last year based on a Persian carpet that I had seen. After blending on a hackle and spinning into a three ply Double Knit weight, I was reminded of pebbles on a beach nearby which come from the colourful cliffs of the California Central Coast.
I named my yarn pebbles and set out to find a pattern that would show it off.
After playing around with some Celtic knot motifs that I designed I thought it would be fun to incorporate one of the more triangular ones into sort of cornices for a Henley keyhole type neckline. Adding a modified version of EZ’s shirt yoke and Irish Pebbles was born.
The saddle shoulders extend across the back of the sweater to form a shirt yoke and the collar buttons all the way up to a turtle neck for chilly weather, but can be worn open like a polo shirt for a sporty look. An added cabled clock on the sleeves gives a flair to the finish.
This is an intermediate sort of pattern and one should be familiar with cables, buttonholes, and not be afraid of several shaping elements happening at one time. But the results are well worth the extra attention this sweater needs.
Please note that I have made a few minor improvements to the pattern since this was originally knit. I modified the armhole shaping a little to make the shoulders less tight and deepened the henley opening just a bit.