The Salerno Cardigan is a cropped and boxy V-neck cardigan finished with an elegant combination of I-cord cast-offs and double knitting. It is made using a chunky blown yarn held with a mohair which yields a soft focus effect, making the Cardigan a wardrobe essential. There is an accompanying YouTube tutorial for this project with demonstrations of the i-cord cast-off and double knitting trim, as these techniques are relatively fiddly.

Gauge: 9 stitches x 18 rows in stocking stitch on 9 mm needles = 10 x 10 cm

Materials & Fit

Notions: 9 mm circular needles. I would recommend having  40 cm, 60, 80 cm and 100 cm cables. Feel free to adjust your needle size up or down accordingly, working in 0.5 mm increments. I would also strongly suggest having 9 mm double-pointed knitting needles or unconnected interchangeable needle tips on hand too, as these will make the i-cord and double knitting much more manageable.

You will also need about 9 stitch markers, one of which should be in a contrasting colour to indicate the beginning of the round, a darning needle, and some spare needles/scrap yarn/stitch holders where the stitches of the sleeves will rest. I would also recommend having some extras on hand to make keeping track of the row count easier. Lastly, you will need 3-5 25mm ⌀ buttons.

Yarn: Approximately 8 (8) 9 (10) 10 (11) 11 (13) 13 (14) skeins of Drops Wish (70 m/50 g) held together with 3 (3) 4 (4) 4 (4) 4 (5) 5 (5) skeins of Sandnes Garn Tynn Silk Mohair (212 m /25 g). I made the sample piece in Size C with the shades 04 Wheat and Almond 2511, respectively.

Should you want an alternative to Wish, these yarn quantities correspond to approximately 560 (560) 630 (700) 700 (770) 770 (910) 910 (980) m of your main yarn and you will need the same again in your choice of mohair. 

Yarn alternatives: I’m struggling to think of alternatives to Wish as there aren’t very many blown yarns that are this chunky on the market. However, test knitters used Lion Brand’s Wool-Ease Thick and Quick and Knitpicks Wonderfluff to great effect. You could use any mohair or mohair alternative with this pattern, but I would note that suri- and other alpaca-based yarns tend to be a bit thicker than mohair and so such yarns may alter your gauge.

Sizing and ease: The Salerno Cardigan has about 17-22 cm positive ease for sizes A-G, and 17-27  cm positive ease for sizes H-J. As outlined in the pattern, the cardigan has a relatively cropped fit. For reference, the sample garment just reaches my hips and I am 5’4” with a short torso. If you would like a longer garment, I would advise buying 1-2 extra skeins to ensure that you have enough yarn. Equally, the ease described here is ultimately only a suggestion. If you would like a closer fitting or looser garment, size up or down accordingly using the chart below to find the best fit for you.

SIZE: A (B) C (D) E (F) G (H) I (J)
Chest measurement (cm): 80-85 (85-90) 90-95 (95-100) 100-105 (105-110) 110-115 (115-125) 125-135 (135-145)
Actual circumference of garment (cm): 102 (108) 113 (117) 123 (127) 132 (142) 152 (162)

Techniques: The Salerno Cardigan uses a range of different increases and it is worked top-down, both flat and in the round. It is finished with i-cord cast-offs and an applied double knitting button trim. There is an accompanying YouTube tutorial for this section of the pattern.