289 Aurora Shawl Collar Cardigan - Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Northampton Bulky

289 Aurora Shawl Collar Cardigan – Knitting Pattern for Women by Kirsten Hipsky

The 289 Aurora Shawl Collar Cardigan is a women's knitting pattern designed by Kirsten Hipsky and published under the Valley Yarns brand. This cozy, chunky-weight cardigan features a dramatic shawl collar, a classic bottom-up construction, and a flattering silhouette available in five finished sizes: 36, 40, 44, 48, and 52 inches. It is rated as an intermediate difficulty pattern and is available as a downloadable PDF, making it an excellent project for knitters who are comfortable with basic shaping and are ready to explore more refined finishing techniques such as short-row collar construction.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a women's shawl collar cardigan — a long-sleeved, open-front sweater distinguished by its wide, softly folded shawl collar that frames the neckline and adds warmth and elegance. The cardigan is a wardrobe staple that works equally well as a casual layering piece or a polished outer garment. The finished garment includes a front opening fastened with one large button, set-in or shaped sleeves, and a richly textured collar picked up and worked directly onto the body of the sweater.

Construction Techniques

• Bottom-up construction: The cardigan is worked from the lower hem upward, a traditional approach that allows knitters to try on the piece as they go and adjust length easily before committing to the yoke and collar.
• Worked flat: The body and collar sections are worked back and forth in rows rather than in the round, which is typical for open-front cardigans where a continuous tube construction is not practical.
• Seamless construction: Despite being worked flat in sections, the pattern incorporates seamless techniques to minimize finishing work and produce a cleaner, more professional result.
• Short-row shaping (Wrap and Turn / W&T): The shawl collar is shaped using the wrap and turn short-row method. Stitches are picked up along both front edges and the back neck, then worked with progressive short rows to build the characteristic curved, layered depth of a shawl collar. The pattern specifies working until 19 (21, 23, 23, 25) wrapped stitches appear on each side with 60 stitches remaining between them — a precise shaping sequence that gives the collar its three-dimensional drape.
• Sleeve shaping: The sleeves are worked with decrease rounds to taper from the upper arm down to the cuff, with the pattern specifying a target stitch count of 28 (31, 34, 35, 36) stitches after completing the decrease sequence.
• Picking up stitches: A key finishing technique involves picking up and knitting stitches around the entire front and neck opening — 39 (41, 42, 44, 45) stitches from each front edge, 36 (38, 40, 40, 42) stitches from each neck edge, and 24 stitches from the back neck — before beginning the collar shaping rows.
• Garter stitch border and bind-off: Sleeve cuffs are finished with a simple sequence of purl, knit, and purl rounds before binding off, creating a neat rolled or ridged edge.

Stitches Used

• Knit and purl stitches: The foundational stitches of the pattern, used throughout the body, sleeves, and collar.
• Garter stitch: Used in the collar construction — rows 1 and 2 of the collar are worked as straight knit rows, establishing the base before short-row shaping begins.
• Short rows with Wrap and Turn (W&T): Used extensively in the shawl collar to build graduated depth and shape without leaving holes or gaps in the fabric.
• Pick-up and knit: Used to seamlessly integrate the shawl collar into the finished body of the cardigan, picking up stitches along curved and straight edges alike.

Materials

• Yarn: Valley Yarns Northampton Bulky — a 100% wool yarn with approximately 109 yards per 100-gram skein. The sample shown