Bracken Sweater in West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran Fusions - Downloadable PDF

Bracken Sweater Knitting Pattern by Jo Allport – West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran Fusions

The Bracken Sweater is a beautifully textured, cosy ribbed roll neck sweater designed by Jo Allport as part of the West Yorkshire Spinners Fusions Collection. Worked in West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran Fusions yarn, this pattern combines warmth, style, and a distinctly feminine character, making it a rewarding project for the winter months — or any season when a luxurious knit is called for. It is available as a downloadable PDF and is rated at an intermediate skill level.

What Is Being Made

The Bracken Sweater is a classic pullover-style sweater featuring a ribbed roll neck and all-over textured stitch patterning. It is designed with a relaxed, feminine silhouette and is offered across a wide range of sizes to fit busts from 81 cm to 127 cm (32 in to 50 in), with actual bust measurements ranging from 87 cm to 127 cm (34¼ in to 55 in). The body length from back of neck to back hemline (excluding the neckband) ranges from approximately 55 cm to 63 cm (21½ in to 24¾ in), and the underarm sleeve seam measures between 43 cm and 48 cm (17 in to 18¾ in) depending on size. This generous size range makes the pattern accessible to a wide variety of knitters.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern is written specifically for West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran Fusions, an aran weight yarn. This yarn is described as luxurious, providing both warmth and style — qualities that make it ideally suited to a structured textured sweater like the Bracken. The Fusions range is known for its beautifully blended tonal colourways, which add visual depth to stitch patterns without the knitter needing to change yarn.

• Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran Fusions
• Weight: Aran
• Needles: 5mm knitting needles

Tension (Gauge)

Achieving correct tension is essential for this pattern, and three separate tension references are provided, reflecting the different stitch patterns used throughout the sweater:

• Twisted Rib stitch: 21 stitches and 27 rows to a 10 cm (4 in) square using 5mm needles
• Berry-in-a-Box pattern: 23 stitches and 27 rows to a 10 cm (4 in) square using 5mm needles
• Stocking stitch (for reference): 18 stitches and 24 rows to a 10 cm (4 in) square using 5mm needles

The variation in stitch count between the Twisted Rib and Berry-in-a-Box sections highlights the importance of swatching in each stitch pattern before beginning the garment, as both are used structurally across the sweater.

Stitches and Techniques Used

The Bracken Sweater draws on a combination of classic and decorative knitting stitches, giving it both its structured shape and its distinctive textured surface:

Berry-in-a-Box Stitch

The Berry-in-a-Box stitch is the signature texture of this sweater and gives it its feminine, tactile quality. This is a traditional bobble-style stitch pattern that creates a raised, clustered effect across the fabric. It typically involves working multiple stitches into a single stitch and then decreasing back down, creating small raised "berry" shapes set within a framework of knit stitches. The pattern uses specific decrease techniques — including K3tog (knit 3 stitches together) and Dec 5 sts (a compound decrease worked as k2tog through the back loop, k3tog, then passing the k2tog tbl stitch over) — to shape and define each berry motif. This stitch adds beautiful dimension and visual interest to the sweater's body.

Twisted Rib Stitch