Here is a lovely sweater that I designed and knit in a Plymouth yarn, which of course is no longer available. Fiber content is 70% merino wool and 30% silk. It has a beautiful drape and I love the way it turned out. (The pattern is just about finished being written.)

The cable was inspired by one called “little framed lattice” in Elsbeth Lavold’s book, Viking Patterns for Knitting, shown on on page 54. I separated the longer cable pattern with a shortened one.

For a background stitch I used a 1/1 seed with a plain row inbetween. The silk in this fiber really gives the piece a nice glimmer.

I’ve spent many hours pouring over the cable charts and patterns in this book. Every time I look at it I am inspired to design another sweater.

I was fortunate to take a workshop with Elsbeth Lavold and learn her techniques for Viking Cable work. Never one to follow a pattern, I perused her book of patterns for a few days, swatched a while, and came up with this sweater. The wool is Donegal tweed, Aran weight that I bought while on a family vacation in Ireland. The buttons are from a local fabric store and the maroon beads add that special touch. This piece was in an Artwear Runway show in 2005, sponsored by the Minnesota Textile Center.

I learned a lot of things from this sweater! Like how much fun it is to knit in beads and how to design better fitting armholes and sleeves:).