Morton Jacket in Berroco Mercado - 400-3 - Downloadable PDF

Morton Jacket in Berroco Mercado – Knitting Pattern Summary

The Morton Jacket is a beautifully structured, cabled cardigan designed by Donna Yacino and published by Berroco. Knitted in the luxurious Berroco Mercado yarn, this intermediate-level pattern produces a substantial, long-line jacket with rich textural detail. The design is offered as a downloadable PDF, making it immediately accessible for knitters ready to take on a rewarding project.

What Is Being Made

The Morton Jacket is a long, seamed cardigan worked in worsted weight yarn. It features a generous silhouette with a finished bust measurement ranging from 42 to 72 inches (closed), offered in eight sizes. The length is a consistent 32½ inches across all sizes, making it a long-line jacket that provides excellent coverage and a relaxed, elegant drape. The sample shown in the pattern is knitted in size 50 inches with approximately 18 inches of ease, giving a sense of the roomy, comfortable fit intended by the designer.

This is version 2 of the Morton design, indicating a refined iteration of the original pattern. The jacket is worked as a cardigan, meaning it opens at the front rather than being pulled over the head.

Techniques Used

• Bottom-up construction: The Morton Jacket is worked from the cast-on edge upward, a traditional approach that allows knitters to try on the garment as they go and make length adjustments before reaching the armhole shaping.
• Worked flat: All pieces are knitted flat, back and forth in rows rather than in the round, which suits the seamed construction of this design.
• Seamed finishing: The garment pieces — including the back and fronts — are sewn together after knitting. Seaming adds structure and stability to a heavier jacket like this one, helping it hold its shape over time.
• Cable knitting: Cables are a central design feature of the Morton Jacket. A dedicated cable chart of 31 stitches runs through the fabric, measuring approximately 5½ inches wide. The chart includes a notable construction detail: it increases 4 stitches per repeat over Rows 1–6, then decreases 4 stitches per repeat over Rows 25–32, creating a dynamic, expanding-and-contracting cable motif that adds visual movement and sculptural texture to the fabric.
• Stitch holder and marker use: The pattern calls for stitch holders and stitch markers, standard tools for managing live stitches during shaping and for keeping track of pattern repeats.

Stitches Used

Moss Stitch

Moss stitch (also known as seed stitch in some traditions) forms the background fabric of the Morton Jacket. It creates a beautifully textured, non-curling fabric that complements the cable panels. The pattern provides two versions of moss stitch:

• Over an odd number of stitches: A four-row repeat beginning with a knit-one, purl-one sequence, shifting on rows two and three, and returning on row four.
• Over an even number of stitches: A four-row repeat alternating between knit-one-purl-one and purl-one-knit-one rows.

The gauge for the pattern is measured in moss stitch: 16 stitches and 22 rows equal 4 inches. This is an important benchmark, as the combination of moss stitch and cable panels means gauge accuracy directly affects both the width and the cable proportions of the finished jacket.

Cable Chart Stitches

The 31-stitch cable chart incorporates traditional cable crossings worked with a cable needle. The chart's built-in increases and decreases are integral to the cable design itself, not just shaping elements, making this an engaging and technically interesting knit for an intermediate-level knitter comfortable with reading charts and managing a cable needle.

Materials

Yarn: Berroco Mercado

The pattern calls for Berroco Mercado, a worsted weight yarn sold in 100-gram hanks. The