Melrose Abbey

I bought this beautiful blue tweed yarn on sale somewhere eons ago. It languished in my stash for years. Then one day I started swatching this idea, and knew that I had the perfect yarn for the sweater in my stash. Since the yarn is a tweed, I thought I'd go with a tweed-related name for the design. I did a bit of research, and it turns out that "tweed," the Scottish name for twill, originated along the banks of the Tweed river, which separates England from Scotland. Melrose Abbey is a stunning ruin on the south side of the Tweed River—I looked for something suitable on the north side of the river, but couldn't find anything I liked as well. The sweater is a basic, plain vanilla affair with a little cable that runs along one side of the v-neck.

This basic pullover, with a touch of waist shaping, is knit in pieces from the hem up, then seamed. The cabled side of the neckline is knit with the front, and then the seed stitch edging is added later across the top of the back back and along the opposite side of the neck.

• Yarn: aran weight; 600, 670, 725 [810, 880, 950, 1030] yards.
• Model: Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed in 18 (Royal); size: 41 in; 96 yards in 50 grams; 100% wool.
• Gauge: 16 sts and 23 rows to 4 inches in stockinette stitch with larger needles.
• Needles: US 8 (5 mm) for gauge, and US 7 (4.5 mm) for hems.
• Finished size: 32.5, 35, 38 [41, 44, 47, 50] inches.
• To fit bust: about 2 inches smaller than finished sweater.
• Stitch instructions: Charted and written.