New Patterns featuring Herringbone Crochet Stitches: Knarr Sweater, Cardigan and Hat!
- pearledwing
- Mar 20
- 5 min read
I have 3 new patterns out!
Knarr comes in sweater, hat and cardigan forms and it a fun unisex, textured garment.
I love finding out about the story behind designs, so I thought I'd write down the story of how Knarr came to exist.
How it started
I made my first Knarr sweater back in 2023, but I'd been working on the idea for a while before then. I was reading about Vikings at the time and watching the TV series and wanted to create something that had a feel of Vikings. I'd worked on a project which used herringbone double crochet previously and I liked the idea of collecting as many herringbone stitches as I could, as it made me think of herring fishing in the North Sea.
Below: Some of my early doodles for Knarr. I was originally going to call it Clupea (the scientific for Herring).
As you can see, my first doodle was much more of a fantastical looking piece. Looking back at that first doodle now, it would be fun to try and create something closer to that vision.
Translating doodles into crochet
I wanted a big cable-like element in the piece and found a perfect herringbone-chain stitch pattern. I love Jacob's Ladder chains, so I added one in the middle of this panel.
Below: My first Herringbone Spine Panels. Originally I was playing about with splitting the panels in half to make the neckline.
I decided it would be neater and easier to have the spine panels further down the body so they didn't get in the way of the neck opening.
Evolving the Design
I started a Knarr Sweater using James C Brett's Marble Chunky, which has some glorious colourways. This one is "006 It's the 70s". I ended up not picking up enough yarn the first time around and had a bit of a mission getting some more of this yarn. I guess the colourway is a popular one!
As you can see in the picture above, the neck opening was too wide on my Knarr prototype so I added in some extra rows to close the gap at the sides.
Below: My finished Knarr prototype!
I had to shelve Knarr for a while whilst I worked on other things. It was a couple of years before I picked up this design again but I wore the sweater all the time.
Making a Matching Hat
I designed a hat based on the sweater, using the main spine panel and herringbone double crochet.
My first hat (the green one) was made using a gorgeous hand-dyed yarn by Otter and Papoose Yarn called Malachite. I love how 1 skein of special yarn can be used to make a whole hat.
This quickly became my favourite hat to wear. I made one with Drops Lima and another with a skein of Bloomsbury DK. The grey Bloomsbury hat and the Malachite hat have both gone missing!
I started thinking about writing up the sweater and hat patterns as a set.
Making Knarr in other Yarn Weights
My previous Knarr Sweater attempts were made with bulky weight yarn, but I wanted to test the design out with different weights of yarn. I was worried that the fixed width of the bulky weight spine panels might cause problems for smaller sizes.
I made a weight 4 version of the Knarr Sweater in a variety of yarns from stash. I was only allowed to use yarn from stash during this time due to overwhelm and financial constraints! But I do love the challenge of patchworking yarns together.
The multicoloured yarn, used on the sweater below, was bought months previous specifically for a new Knarr (so technically not stash). It's Yarnsmiths Freespirit Aran 1D015 Adonis and it's glorious! I also used a ball of 1D002 Apollo, some left over King Cole Fashion Aran 318 Kintyre and the rest was a random unlabelled thrifted yarn. I was anticipated enjoying wearing this sweater as it's so cosy but it has a strong sheep smell that I don't want to waft around. I blame the mystery thrifted yarn!
And a dk weight version.
This version, mercifully, doesn't smell like a flock of sheep! I used random thrifted beige yarn, a whole lot of thrifted King Cole Forest (technically Aran but it feels like DK to me), and a thrifted green yarn. I love this version even though I made it slightly too big!
The Hooded Cardigan
When I was working on the first Knarr sweater, I started experimenting with a hooded cardigan construction. I kept wondering how the spine panel would look going up and over the head on a hood. I used weight 4 yarn and got started.
In the photo below I had folded the spine panel in half along the hood, to see how it would look. I liked the crisp edge it gave to the hood but I ended up not folding it on the finished cardigan. I almost gave up on this construction but I loved how it looked like something I imagined a dragon rider would wear in a fantasy movie.
I got halfway through making the hooded cardigan and then put it away until I'd written up the sweater pattern. I frogged a few parts and tried again! Mostly, I just needed more confidence and to trust the process.
One of my favourite parts of this cardigan is the way the hood looks like when it's folded down, it reminds me a little of a sail on an origami boat.
I made another cardigan in dk weight yarn whilst I was writing up the pattern. You'll see the work in progress photos in the pattern pdf. This one was made solely with yarn my mum had given me whilst clearing out her home. The purple and dark blue yarn is James C Brett Shhh in SH03 Evening Sky. The spine panels were made with Rowan Tapestry which is discontinued but my first time using a yarn made with soy viscose. I don't know what the grey yarn was but it had tiny sequins in it, so that's fun.
Knarr Testers
The best part of writing a new pattern is seeing what other people come up with. I have the best time with my testers and love seeing all the fun modifications, the colours they choose and how they style the finished pieces.
Benefits of Knarr!
It's great for using up stash yarn! The sweater and cardigan are made in pieces that are crocheted together to allow for different yarns to be used in different areas.
The patterns are no sew! I prefer to crochet garments together.
The pattern has many photos to guide you through the stitches and construction.
As there are different stitches used, you won't get bored and you might learn something new.
The main pattern pdfs are pretty long but I made a printer friendly versions to save your ink!
There are some linked videos to help with different techniques.
The Knarr Sweater and Cardigan are made to measure so you can adjust proportions and make it perfect for you.
The hat is graded for 1 adult size and is a slouchy fit, but I have added in instructions to make it made to measure.
You get to use Herringbone Single Crochet!! OK, this may not be a benefit for some people (you can use normal single crochet if preferred!). I also wrote a blog post on this stitch for extra help.
You can find the patterns in my shop and also on Ravelry.
The Sweater
The Cardigan
The Hat
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