Cityscape

Cityscape Cardigan by Laura Chau

What is Being Made

Cityscape is a seamless, round-yoke cardigan designed by Laura Chau that combines traditional circular yoke construction with a striking architectural motif. The garment features a city skyline worked in stranded colorwork around the upper yoke, creating a juxtaposition of classic knitwear shaping with an unexpected, contemporary design element. The cardigan is knit seamlessly in the round and steeked open at the front for the button closure.

Techniques Used

This intermediate-level cardigan employs several advanced knitting techniques:

• Circular yoke construction: The garment is shaped using a traditional circular yoke method, which allows for seamless shaping from the body up through the shoulders and sleeves
• Stranded colorwork: The city skyline motif is worked using stranded-style two-color knitting, a technique where two colors of yarn are carried across the back of the work to create the pattern
• Steek and steeking: The cardigan is knit in the round with a steek (a column of stitches) at the center front, which is then cut open and finished to create the cardigan opening and button bands
• I-cord cast on: The cast-on method uses an I-cord for a decorative and flexible edge at the lower body
• Seamless construction: Sleeves are knit in the round to the underarm, then joined with the body for the colorwork yoke, eliminating the need for seaming

Stitches Used

While specific stitch abbreviations are not detailed in the provided content, the Cityscape cardigan utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined with stranded colorwork techniques. The pattern requires proficiency with stockinette stitch as the base fabric, knit and purl stitches for shaping, and the ability to manage two colors simultaneously in the yoke section.

Materials

Cityscape is designed to be knit with DK weight yarn, specifically a wooly, semi-solid Blue Faced Leicester yarn in two colors for the colorwork sections. The pattern includes ten finished bust sizes ranging from 31 ¾ inches (80.5 cm) to 57 ¾ inches (146.5 cm), with corresponding length measurements from 22 ¾ inches (58 cm) to 26 inches (66 cm). The cardigan is intended to be worn with 0 to 2 inches of ease. Knitters will need appropriate needles for DK weight yarn in the round, as well as tools for steeking such as sharp scissors and materials for securing the cut edges.