Acorn Trail

Oh, New England in the fall. Is there anything cozier or more colorful? (Says the New England knitter.)

acorn-trail-2

Sizes: Ten sizes; intended to be worn with 1-2’’/2.5-5cm ease in the upper torso. Shown in size 38 1/4’’ / 97 cm.

Final Measurements:
Bust measures: 30 1⁄4 (32, 34 3⁄4, 36 1⁄2, 38 1⁄4, 40, 42 3⁄4, 46 1⁄4, 50 3⁄4, 54 1⁄4)”/77 (81.5, 88, 92.5, 97, 101.5, 108.5, 117.5, 128.5, 137.5) cm
Length from hem to shoulder: 21 (213⁄4, 221⁄4, 223⁄4, 231⁄2, 24, 241⁄2, 251⁄4, 26, 261⁄2)”/53.5 (55, 56.5, 58, 59.5, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67.5) cm

Featured Materials: Harrisville New England Highland [100% wool]: 200 yds/183 m per 100 g hank, shown in color #80 (Highland Foliage): 4 (4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8) hanks

Gauge: 18 sts & 28 rows = 4’’/10cm in Stockinette Stitch. Recommended needle size of US 7/4.5mm

Pattern Notes: All photographs copyright Amy Herzog 2013. Technical editing by Alison Green.

Acorn Trail is my first installment in the “Back Roads & Brownstones” series, a collaboration with Kirsten Kapur of “Through the Loops”. I always enjoy working with Kirsten; not only is she a wonderful person, but her design sensibilities are utterly fantastic and it’s awe-inspiring to trade ideas with her.

Back Roads & Brownstones is a fun play on where we both live; she’s in NYC, and I’m just outside of Boston.

back-roads-logo

But despite my current urban zip code, I grew up in rural Maine and have been a die-hard outdoorsy type my whole life. It seemed natural to start this series off with a cardigan I can imagine slipping on for a favorite hike through some beautiful foliage. Cables, a gorgeous tweedy wool, a little bit of openwork to keep things from being too heavy. Acorn Trail is a great layering piece, and a knockout on its own.

Acorn Trail is worked in pieces, from the bottom up, in Harrisville’s incredibly beautiful New England Highland. This is a sturdy, wool-lover’s wool, and the cardigan makes the most of its texture in intricate cable and lace panels. Despite the detailed look, the sweater is easy
to modify since the stitch patterning rests on a simple Stockinette base.

I can’t recommend this luscious tweedy yarn highly enough, but if you’d like to substitute you’ll need approximately 703 (783, 851, 905, 975, 1041, 1125, 1215, 1353, 1463) yds / 643 (717, 778, 828, 892, 952, 1029, 1112, 1238, 1339) m.

Acorn Trail offers great options for all body shapes. As written, the long vertical panels, narrow neckline, and unobtrusive hem make the cardigan a fantastic choice for proportional shapes. Top-heavy shapes might consider lengthening the sweater and/or sleeves slightly, and bottom-heavy shapes might consider shortening one or both.

Vertical darts enable easy customization to fit your needs. Should you desire less waist shaping than specified, either omit the shaping rows entirely, or omit/reduce only the shaping on the front of the sweater. Bustier women can work more increases on the front of the sweater, and not in the back. Extra stitches should be decreased into the neckline.

As with all patterns, compare the schematic against your own measurements and make alterations as necessary.

Acorn Trail may be purchased in one of two ways from from my ravelry pattern store:

  • As a standard pattern for $7.00 (with CustomFit recipe included in addition to standalone pattern instructions). This is a pattern very much like any of my others; it includes complete instructions for all 12 sizes, plus modification advice and a detailed schematic.
  • You may also purchase a CustomFit recipe (without standard pattern instructions) for $2.50. The CustomFit recipe provides full instructions on how to use CustomFit to make an Acorn Trail that will fit you perfectly from hem to neck and everywhere in between, including:
    • Which construction options to choose to get Acorn Trail in the fit and shape as shown above
    • Instructions for cable set-up and placement for front and back
    • Charts for all cables

Which should you choose? It depends on whether you’re typically comfortable knitting (and modifying) a pattern as written, or whether you’d really like to get instructions that fit you well with no modification required.

The CustomFit recipe requires the purchase of a CustomFit pattern, for $9.99 to get a complete set of instructions.

To purchase the complete version of Acorn Trail, with instructions for 10 sizes and the CustomFit recipe, click here.

To purchase the CustomFit-only version of Acorn Trail, click here

Thanks so much for your support!

acorn-trail-3 acorn-trail-5 acorn-trail-1 acorn-trail-6

5 thoughts on “Acorn Trail

  1. […] so wunderbar durchdacht sind. Schlicht und elegant gleichzeitig. Zur Zeit bin ich ganz verliebt in Acorn Trail und hab sogar schon im Auge, mit welcher Wolle ich das stricken würde. Amy Herzog finde ich auch […]

  2. […] edges and I now have my new favourite top. My present is the knitting project, it’s called Acorn Trail by Amy Herzog. I really like the ‘Miette’, a cardigan that a lot of other bloggers have […]

  3. […] some serious knitting over the holidays I managed to finish my Acorn Trail cardigan. I’m really pleased with it and it’s very […]

  4. […] – than the day they were knit. Of all of the sweaters in the giant set I bring to my classes, Acorn Trail (out of Highland) gets the most love. It still looks as good as the pattern photo, and it feels […]

  5. […] Acorn Trail Pattern:  on Ravelry and on Amy Herzog’s website […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

TweetShare