Diagonal Front Jacket - Knitting Pattern for Women in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Debbie Bliss Diagonal Front Jacket – Knitting Pattern for Women in Cashmerino Aran

This downloadable PDF knitting pattern by Debbie Bliss provides instructions for a women's Diagonal Front Jacket, worked in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran weight yarn. The design is classified as intermediate difficulty, making it a rewarding project for knitters who are comfortable with shaping techniques and reading multi-step pattern instructions. The diagonal front detailing gives this jacket a distinctive, fashion-forward silhouette that sets it apart from more traditional cardigan constructions.

What Is Being Made

The finished garment is a structured women's jacket featuring a diagonal front opening — a design element that creates an asymmetric, angled closure line across the front of the body. This kind of diagonal construction requires careful attention to shaping rows and stitch counts, as the angled edge is achieved through deliberate increases and decreases rather than a straight vertical front band. The result is a polished, tailored piece suitable for everyday wear or smarter occasions.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern is written specifically for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, a luxurious blend of merino wool and cashmere that knits to an aran weight gauge. Cashmerino Aran is well regarded for its softness, drape, and slight halo, making it an excellent choice for a wearable jacket that sits comfortably against the skin. Because this is an aran weight yarn, the fabric works up relatively quickly compared to finer weights, while still producing a fabric with good stitch definition — important for showcasing the shaping lines of the diagonal front.

• Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
• Weight: Aran
• Craft: Knitting
• Knitting needles appropriate for aran weight yarn would be used; refer to the pattern PDF for the specific needle size and tension/gauge swatch requirements.

Techniques Used

As an intermediate-level pattern, the Diagonal Front Jacket draws on a range of knitting techniques beyond basic knit and purl. The angled front edge is the defining technical challenge of the design, requiring the knitter to work shaping across multiple rows to build the diagonal line. Key techniques referenced in the pattern include:

• Casting on — forming the foundation row of loops on the needle to begin each section of the garment
• Casting off / binding off — finishing edges neatly to prevent unravelling, including casting off in ribbing to maintain the rib pattern at relevant edges (knitting the knit stitches and purling the purl stitches as the stitches are bound off)
• Increasing — adding stitches to shape the garment, including the use of kfb (knit into the front and back of a stitch), a common method for a neat, integrated increase
• Decreasing — reducing stitch counts to create shaping, using methods such as k2tog (knit two together) and p2tog (purl two together)
• Ribbing — a combination of knit and purl stitches worked in sequence to create an elastic, textured fabric, typically used for cuffs, hems, and front bands
• Garter stitch — knitting every row to produce a ridged, reversible fabric, which may be used for borders or structural sections
• Garment construction and seaming — joining separately worked pieces (such as sleeves, back, and fronts) into a finished jacket

Stitches Used

The pattern uses UK terminology throughout, with US terminology provided in round brackets alongside each term, making it accessible to knitters on both sides of the Atlantic. Core stitches and stitch techniques referenced include:

• Knit stitch (k) — the foundational stitch of knitting, used throughout the body and shaping rows
• Purl stitch (p) — worked in combination with knit stitches to create ribbing and other textured patterns
• Kfb