Maplewood Cardigan in West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley Aran Fusions - Downloadable PDF

Maplewood Cardigan by Jo Allport – Pattern Summary

The Maplewood Cardigan is a beautifully crafted women's knitted cardigan designed by Jo Allport as part of the West Yorkshire Spinners Fusions Collection. This pattern is available as a downloadable PDF and is rated as an intermediate skill level project, making it an ideal challenge for knitters who are comfortable with basic techniques and ready to explore cables and lace. The design is celebrated for its elegant, eye-catching aesthetic, combining structured cable bands with delicate lattice lace sleeves and a classic garter stitch body — a combination that gives the finished garment a refined yet rustic character.

Design Overview

The Maplewood Cardigan is described as a stunning, attention-demanding design that balances elegance with wearability. The garment features cable bands that introduce a touch of textural interest, garter stitch panels that provide a relaxed, draping quality, and lattice lace sleeves that add a light, airy contrast to the denser body fabric. The overall silhouette is shaped to drape beautifully without feeling heavy — a quality directly attributed to the nature of the yarn used.

The cardigan is offered in ten sizes, designed to fit bust measurements ranging from 81 cm (32 in) to 127 cm (50 in), with actual bust measurements spanning from 93 cm (36¾ in) to 145 cm (57 in). The actual length from back of neck to back hemline (excluding the neckband) ranges from 77 cm to 84 cm depending on size, and the underarm sleeve seam is a fixed 25 cm (10 in). This generous size range ensures the pattern is accessible to a wide variety of body types.

Techniques Used

The Maplewood Cardigan draws on several key knitting techniques that give it its distinctive character. Knitters working through this pattern will engage with the following methods:

• Cable knitting – The cable bands are a defining feature of this design. Cables are created by temporarily placing stitches onto a cable needle and holding them either at the front or back of the work before knitting, producing the characteristic twisted rope-like effect.
• Lace knitting – The lattice lace sleeves are worked using yarn-over increases paired with decreases to create an open, decorative mesh pattern. Lace knitting requires attention to pattern repeats and stitch counts.
• Garter stitch – One of the most fundamental knitting textures, garter stitch is formed by knitting every row on both right and wrong sides. It creates a squishy, ridged fabric that lies flat and drapes well.
• Increasing and decreasing – Shaping throughout the garment uses techniques including M1 (Make 1), a lifted increase worked through the bar between stitches, as well as P2tog (purl two stitches together) for decreasing.
• Twist stitches – The pattern uses T3b (Twist 3 Back) and T3f (Twist 3 Front), which are cable-adjacent techniques where stitches are crossed to create diagonal movement within the cable panel, adding complexity and visual interest.
• C4b (Cable 4 Back) – A classic four-stitch cable cross where two stitches are held at the back on the cable needle while two are knitted, then the held stitches are worked, producing a right-leaning cable twist.

Stitches Used

The pattern incorporates a combination of stitch patterns, each contributing to the overall texture and structure of the cardigan:

• Garter Stitch (g st) – Used across the main body panels; tension is set at 20 stitches and 34 rows to a 10 cm square using 5mm needles.
• Lace Pattern – Used for the sleeves; tension is set at 16 stitches and 35 rows to a 10 cm square using 5mm needles. The different stitch count reflects the more open nature of lace fabric.
• Cable Pattern – Worked in bands using C4b, T3b,