Pattern release (and silence-breaker): Clearview

Hello, lovely knitters!

And happy new year to you and yours. Looking back over the blog archives of the past couple of months, my silences have been stretching quite long. I apologize for that; I’ll admit that I’ve been struggling to find my voice here, lately. It’s been too easy to avoid that struggle and throw myself into book writing and deadline knitting.

I’ll try not to let my silences become too long, in the future – whoever and wherever we are, our crafting and making are soothing activities, and the things we make brighten the world around us. And if I can contribute to world-brightening in any way, I want to do so.

In that vein, I’d like to share something lovely with you today, and that’s Solitude Wool’s Coopworth Sport. I first noticed the Solitude Wool booth at a Vogue Knitting Live marketplace – Gretchen and Sue are two shepherds from Virginia who saw a (much!) better use for some of the breed-specific fleeces that were being discarded by local farmers. They offer a variety of single-breed yarns, in a variety of beautiful hues, all carefully crafted into the perfect yarn for each breed.

When I got my excited little hands on their Coopworth sport, I was struck by its lightness and luminescence. It’s a lovely, bouncy wool, with a soft halo and snug little stitches. Knit up into large sections of fabric, it’s incredibly lofty. I couldn’t get an A-line cardigan out of my head – and today, I’d like to share Clearview with you:

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Different designs come into being in different ways, but this one definitely started with the yarn. I knew an A-line cardigan was just the thing for this lighter-than-air material. I like the way a scoop neck pairs with 3/4 sleeves to visually balance out the wide bottom of an A-line cardigan, and thought top-only buttons would be a nice detail.

That settled the basic shape – which meant I needed to decide on a stitch pattern.

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I was ready to knit something less plain than Stockinette, but didn’t want the garment to be too fussy – it was important to me to let the yarn shine. A simple Windowpane texture turned out to be just the thing – it almost looked too subtle in my swatch, but once it covered all of the fabric, I loved the effect.


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And now, I have a warm, snuggly bit of lightness to brighten gray studio days.

I hope you love this design as much as I do, and that it brightens your gray days too. Click here to make your own, and thanks so much for reading.

Happy knitting to you!

15 thoughts on “Pattern release (and silence-breaker): Clearview

  1. This style of cardigan not only looks awesome, it looks awesome ON YOU and I am thrilled that it will take its place in the repertoire. That color is magnificent!

    1. Thank you so much Andrea!

  2. Really beautiful. Love the style of this cardigan. I’m definitely adding this one to my list of CF must knit. And that color is gorgeous

    1. Thanks! 🙂

  3. What a beautiful cardigan – my favourite colour in all the world, but also sounds like just the perfect yarn.

    It’s good to see you blogging again. I feel much the same as you, in that while it’s hard to speak, sometimes, in what is an apparently dark time, things like crafting and knitting and creating beautiful things are more important than ever. Do come back again soon!

    1. Thanks so much! Yes, I found the yarn just lovely.

  4. How would it be on a slightly older and a little saggy body with a little belly?
    That’s a body my friends and I know well. Those top buttons opening at the sorest spot…How’d that be on us?

    1. I think it would work; if those are your concerns I’d try to make sure that:

      – There’s a bit of positive ease through the bust rather than it being very snug
      – The neckline is low enough that the trim is on the top slope of the bust – this will keep the buttons extending far enough that the cardigan doesn’t migrate out to the sides of the body.

      Does that make sense?

      1. Sure does.
        So, one you’d recommend for us?

  5. I love that simple windowpane pattern, and don’t think I’ve ever seen it before….is it hard to do?

    1. Thank you! It’s not hard at all – just knits and purls, and once you have the first squares set up it’s easy to look at your knitting and see what to do next.

  6. This has got to be one of my favorite sweaters that you have done! Beautifully designed! Have to try this one too but maybe in a cotton blend. Not much use for wool sweaters in the South.

    1. Aw, thank you so much Dottie! I’m so glad you like it. I think it would be lovely in a summer yarn.

  7. So – If we want to cast on right now – how can we be certain YOU are seen as the catalyst and are compensated appropriately? Is there a particular yarn we might order (hopefully not wrapped in gold dust) or is it simply purchasing the pattern on CustomFit? (And agreed – I have also been keeping offline and in home, waiting for Spring and safer days.)

  8. Thank you Amy! It’s so great to have our yarn in one of your sweaters…and this is such a great design, we are proud!
    Hope your fans can discover some new small batch yarns, like Coopworth sport, because the custom fit program makes it so easy to substitute yarns and still get the perfect fit on any of your patterns.

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