At long last, the Calluna sweater pattern is available!

Well, you may not have been waiting for it, but I have! We had hoped to release this pattern when City Tweed was first launched, but when we realized that all of you intrepid knitters would end up finishing the sweater in the summer, we decided to push it back a little. This sweater is perfect for fall – so now is a great time to start! Yes, I know, knitting alpaca in the summertime sounds crazy, but the heavy worsted City Tweed knits up so fast, you won’t even have time to break a sweat.

When I started thinking about a great use for City Tweed, I couldn’t help but love the way it shows texture. I really wanted a textured sweater – cables, ribbing, knit and purl patterns – I couldn’t decide! So, I took a hint from nature. Calluna Vulgaris, or common Heather, is a wonderfully textured plant. From afar, a patch of heather looks like a tweedy, soft blanket. But the closer you get, the more angular it appears. The leaves of the shrub grow perpendicular to each other, but in an upward diagonal from a central stem, and the bell-like flowers bloom in succession like little drops.

To me, the overall look of the Heather plant was like Moss Stitch, the orientation of the leaves was a diagonal rib, and the flowers inspired a cable pattern that was full of motion.

Seeing it in a sketch was great, but when the sweater came back from the test knitter it was just as I had hoped! Lots of little angular details that add up to a soft, tweedy impact.

We knit ours in Brocade, but this sweater would look fabulous in any color of City Tweed. Any when you cast yours on, be sure to join the knitalong! <