Ursula Cardigan

Its time to show you another design, from the next of my Shetland ‘colour stories’. This is the Ursula Cardigan.

This design is named for writer and naturalist, Ursula Venables, who lived and worked in Shetland during the 1940s and ’50s. (You can read more about her in my book.)

Ursula’s writing about wildflowers, as well as my own experience of Shetland’s luminous summer landscape, provided the very feminine palette of this colour story.

While the distinctive zigzagging stitch pattern was inspired by a striking 1940s knitted garment I noticed very briefly on screen in a BBC drama.

This cardigan is probably the most ‘challenging’ design in Colours of Shetland, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be tackled by a confident beginner. It is knit in the round, with steek bridges placed for the front openings and armscyes. After knitting the body, the armscye steeks are cut, and the sleeves are worked top-down in Barbara Walker fashion.

The front steek is cut, and lined with a pretty ribbon trim.

Vintage glass buttons provide the perfect finish. . .

. . .and snaps are used in place of holes to help the button bands retain their shape over time.

This is a classic garment, that, if made carefully, should see its wearer through many summers.

We shot these photographs near St Ninian’s Isle, in Shetland’s South mainland. Every time I look at them, I long to be back there again.

I think I’ll take the Ursula cardigan back to Shetland again next year, to enjoy some more glorious summer days.

Yarn requirements and sizing information for the Ursula Cardigan can now be found on Ravelry.