Willowherb Pullover

By Marine MacLean

I designed the Willowherb Hat and Mittens set early this year after falling in love quatrefoil cable pattern I found in one of my stitch dictionaries.

Willowherb Hat and Mitts

Since I loved knitting the accessories so much, I floated the idea of doing a sweater, to Kristi, and she suggested using some Paulie Worsted. I did a fair number of sketches, trying to decide what I wanted to do with the motifs. I knew I didn't want an all-over pattern. I think the motif is most interesting when it's used sparsely. I also liked the idea of an asymmetrical design, and that's when the idea of grouping 4 of the motifs came together. 

The pattern is designed so that the widest part of the motif cluster, hits at your natural waist. Combined with waist shaping darts, the piece really helps to create an hourglass appearance. 

The next big challenge was making sure the motifs were to scale, even in the larger sizes. The pattern is offered from a 32" bust to a 60" bust, and I didn't want the motifs that looked great in the 30-40" range to get lost in the 50-60" range. I scaled up the motifs for the larger sizes to give a more uniform appearance across the full range of sizes.  Since the larger motifs also add length to the garment, petite-plus women can always use the smaller motifs along the body, to shorten the torso, and use the larger motifs around the yoke, to fit their bust.

I include plenty of fitting tips and suggestions like this throughout the pattern, and hope knitters will really adapt this pattern to make it their own.

It was a real pleasure designing this piece and, of course, I love working with Kristi and her yarns. I hope knitters enjoy this piece as much as I enjoyed designing it. 

Look for a Shalimar Etsy update soon to order your yarn for this sweater. 

Join Falling (S)leeves - a Shalimar Sweater Adventure KAL on our Ravelry forum.