Damen-Zopfpullover in Schachenmayr Catania - S8067

Damen-Zopfpullover in Schachenmayr Catania – S8067: A Detailed Pattern Summary

This free downloadable PDF knitting pattern (Design 8067) from Schachenmayr presents a classic women's cable sweater — known in German as a Damen-Zopfpullover — worked in the beloved Schachenmayr SMC Catania yarn. The design is available in three sizes: S, M, and L, making it accessible to a wide range of knitters. Originally published under the Coats PLC copyright in 2011, this pattern remains a timeless example of traditional European cable knitting craftsmanship.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a women's pullover sweater featuring prominent cable (Zopf) panels as the central decorative element. The term Zopf refers to the braided or twisted rope-like cable motifs that are a hallmark of classic Alpine and Central European knitwear. The sweater is designed to be a structured, elegant garment suitable for everyday wear, combining textural interest with a clean, wearable silhouette.

Materials Required

• Yarn: Schachenmayr SMC Catania in shade 00105 natur (a natural, off-white tone). The quantity required varies by size: 500 g for S, 550 g for M, and 600 g for L. Catania is a sport weight (also classified as a fine cotton yarn), known for its smooth, mercerised finish and excellent stitch definition — properties that make it particularly well suited to showcasing intricate cable patterns.
• Knitting Needles: Milward straight knitting needles in sizes 2.5–3.5 mm and 3–4 mm are required, accommodating slight variations in individual knitting tension.
• Circular Needle: A 40 cm long circular knitting needle in size 2.5–3.5 mm is used, most likely for working the neckband or collar ribbing in the round.
• Cable Needle (Hilfsnadel): An auxiliary or cable needle is essential for executing the cable crossings that define the Zopf motifs throughout the sweater.

Techniques Used

• Flat knitting worked back and forth in rows for the main body pieces, with circular knitting used for finishing details such as the neckband.
• Cable knitting (Zopfmuster): The signature technique of this pattern. Cables are created by temporarily placing a set of stitches onto the auxiliary cable needle, holding them either to the front or back of the work, knitting the next stitches from the left needle, and then knitting the held stitches. This crossing action produces the characteristic twisted braid appearance. The pattern is worked from a Strickschrift (knitting chart), with only the right-side (Hinreihen) rows charted.
• Reading and working from a knitting chart: The cable pattern is presented graphically. On wrong-side rows (Rückreihen), stitches are worked as they appear — knit over knit and purl over purl — a standard convention in chart-based European knitting patterns.
• Ribbing (Bündchenmuster): A 2×2 rib is used for the cuffs and lower edges, worked by alternating 2 knit stitches and 2 purl stitches across the row. This creates an elastic, neat border that helps the garment retain its shape at the hem and sleeve ends.
• Seed stitch / Moss stitch variation (Grundmuster): The background or base fabric of the sweater is worked in a textured Grundmuster (foundation pattern) that alternates knit and purl stitches in a four-row repeat, creating a subtle, non-stockinette ground that beautifully offsets the raised cable panels.
• Sizing and shaping: Instructions for all three sizes (S, M, L) are integrated into the pattern text, with figures listed consecutively from smallest to largest, separated by hyphens — a common European pattern convention.