Ladies Sweater with Cables in Schachenmayr - 5969

Ladies Cable Sweater Knitting Pattern – Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120 (Pattern 5969)

This free downloadable PDF knitting pattern from Schachenmayr provides instructions for a classic ladies cable sweater, designed in Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120 yarn. The pattern is written in German and delivers a beautifully structured, fitted pullover featuring prominent cable panels across the body. With its elegant textural detail and clean silhouette, this sweater is a rewarding project for knitters with intermediate to advanced experience.

What Is Being Made

The pattern instructs knitters in constructing a ladies fitted sweater with cable detailing. The design includes a back panel (Rückenteil) worked from the bottom up, with ribbed welts, shaped side seams, armhole shaping, shoulder shaping, and a rounded neckline. The pattern is sized for a size 36, with additional sizing options noted in parentheses for larger sizes, making it adaptable across a range of fits.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern is designed specifically for Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120, a DK weight yarn celebrated for its fine merino wool composition. This yarn offers excellent stitch definition, which is particularly important when working intricate cable patterns where clarity and crispness of the twisted stitches are essential to the finished look. The smooth, fine texture of merino also ensures the ribbing and cable panels lie neatly and retain their shape.

• Yarn: Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 120
• Weight: DK (double knitting)
• Needles: Two sets are required — 2.5–3.5 mm for the ribbed cuff sections, and 3–4 mm for the main body fabric and cable panels

Techniques Used

This pattern employs a range of classic knitting techniques that come together to create a polished, structured garment:

• Bottom-up construction: The sweater is worked from the cast-on edge upward, beginning with the ribbed border and progressing through the body to the shoulders and neckline.
• Needle changes: A deliberate switch from smaller to larger needles after the ribbing section creates the correct tension differential between the welt and the body — a standard technique in garment knitting to ensure the cuff pulls in neatly while the body drapes correctly.
• Stitch increases for shaping: Stitches are increased evenly across the final wrong-side row of the ribbing to transition smoothly into the wider body stitch count. Additional increases are worked along the side seams to create a shaped, fitted silhouette.
• Side seam shaping (Seitenschrägungen): Increases are worked on both sides every 12th (12th/10th) row, five times, to shape the body from hip to underarm.
• Armhole shaping (Armausschnitte): Stitches are cast off in a stepped sequence — first a block of 4 stitches, then decreases every right-side row — to create a smooth, curved armhole.
• Shoulder shaping (Schultern): Worked using stepped cast-offs on both sides across multiple right-side rows, producing a neat, angled shoulder line.
• Neckline shaping (Halsausschnitt): The centre stitches are placed on hold or cast off, with further decreases worked on each side every right-side row to form a rounded neckline.
• Cable decreases at shoulders: Over the 17-stitch-wide cable panels, stitches are decreased by working knit two together four times, ensuring the cable pattern is neatly integrated into the shoulder shaping without disrupting the visual flow of the cables.

Stitches Used

The pattern makes use of several distinct stitch patterns, each serving a specific structural or decorative purpose:

• Bündchenmuster (Ribbing): Used for the lower welt of the sweater, worked over approximately 10–12 cm depending on size. Ribbing creates a stretchy, elasticated border that hugs the body and provides a tidy finish at the hem.