Barley Cardigan in Rowan Cotton Trio - Downloadable PDF

Barley Cardigan in Rowan Cotton Trio – Pattern Summary

The Barley Cardigan is a beautifully structured, fitted knitted cardigan designed by Martin Storey and worked in Rowan Cotton Trio, a lightweight 4-ply yarn. This is a downloadable PDF pattern suited to intermediate knitters who are comfortable working from charts, handling cable techniques, and shaping multiple garment pieces simultaneously. The design combines elegant textural interest with a classic silhouette, making it a versatile wardrobe staple.

What Is Being Made

The pattern produces a fitted cardigan with a structured back, shaped left and right fronts, set-in or tailored sleeves, and a neat button band. The finished garment is available in nine sizes, fitting actual chest measurements ranging from 81.5 cm (32 in) up to 164.5 cm (64¾ in), making it genuinely inclusive in its sizing range. The cardigan fastens with three buttons — specifically TGB4775 imitation horn 20mm buttons from Textile Garden — which lend a natural, tactile finish in keeping with the cotton yarn.

Design Details and Garment Construction

The Barley Cardigan is constructed in separate pieces that are seamed together. Key structural elements include:

• Back: Worked from the cast-on edge upward with twisted rib at the lower border, transitioning into the main cable and textured pattern. Back neck shaping is achieved by casting off centre stitches and working each shoulder separately, with decreases at the neck edge to create a clean neckline finish.
• Left Front: Begins with a twisted rib border and then transitions into the charted pattern, with a 10-stitch rib panel maintained along the front band edge throughout. Shaping mirrors the back at the armhole and shoulder.
• Right Front: Worked to match the left front with shapings reversed, as is standard for a symmetrical cardigan construction.

Techniques Used

This pattern draws on a range of intermediate knitting techniques, giving the finished fabric its rich, tactile quality:

• Twisted Rib: The lower borders are worked in a twisted rib, created by knitting through the back loop (K1 tbl) on right-side rows. This produces a denser, crisper rib than standard 1×1 ribbing, helping the borders retain their shape in cotton yarn.
• Cable Knitting: The pattern features a prominent cable stitch, specifically a C8B (cable 8 back), in which eight stitches are worked using a cable needle. This creates a bold, rope-like twisted cable that travels across the fabric and forms the centrepiece of the textured design.
• Chart Reading: The main body pattern is worked from a 20-row repeating chart, with stitches beginning and ending at size-specific positions on the chart. Knitters must be comfortable reading both right-side and wrong-side chart rows and adjusting their starting position according to their chosen size.
• Neck and Shoulder Shaping: Back neck shaping involves casting off a central block of stitches and then working each side separately, with decreases at the neck edge over subsequent rows alongside simultaneous shoulder cast-offs — a technique that requires careful row-by-row attention.
• Stitch Increases within Rib: Subtle stitch count adjustments are made at the end of the rib section (increasing by 0 or 1 stitch depending on size) to set up the correct stitch count for the charted pattern repeat.

Stitches Used

• Twisted Rib (K1 tbl, P1) – used for all lower borders and front bands
• C8B (Cable 8 Back) – the signature cable stitch worked over 8 stitches using a cable needle, crossing stitches to the back to create a right-leaning cable twist
• Knit and Purl stitches – forming the background texture of the charted pattern repeat
• Standard cast-on and cast-off methods – used throughout for borders, armhole shaping, and shoulder finishing