Cornflower

Cornflower Sweater by Marie Wallin

What is Being Made

Cornflower is a knitted pullover sweater designed by Marie Wallin, available in three sizes: Small-Medium (to fit bust 81-97 cm), Large-Extra Large (102-117 cm), and Extra Extra Large (122-127 cm). This intermediate-level knitting project creates a fitted garment with patterned body and sleeve sections.

Knitting Techniques and Construction

The sweater is constructed using a traditional flat knitting method with distinct construction phases. The garment begins with a ribbed cuff worked on smaller needles, then transitions to larger needles for the main body pattern. The pattern employs chart-based colorwork or textured patterning, with specific chart rows repeated throughout the body and sleeve sections. The back piece measures approximately 47-53 cm in length depending on size, while the patterned body panel reaches 48 cm and the sleeve pattern panel measures 32 cm. Shaping is achieved through strategic cast-offs at the shoulders, with 6-9 stitches cast off at the beginning of successive rows to create the shoulder slope.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The Cornflower sweater uses stockinette stitch as the foundation, combined with a charted stitch or colorwork pattern that repeats throughout the body. The pattern requires working from chart rows 1-4 five times initially, then repeating chart rows 5-32 continuously for the remainder of the body. This structured approach creates visual interest and texture across the garment. The tension is critical to the fit: 32 stitches and 28 rows over 10 cm when measured over the body pattern using 3¼mm needles.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

This design is worked in 4-ply weight yarn, specifically Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift, a traditional Shetland wool yarn. The project requires 12-17 balls of 25-gram weight depending on size selected (photographed in the colorway Moorgrass 286). The yarn is worked on 2¾mm (US 2) needles for the ribbed cuff sections and 3¼mm (US 3) needles for the main body and sleeves, allowing the fabric to transition from a tighter, more elastic ribbing to a more fluid patterned body.