DIY: Knit Cascata Top and Free Pattern by Filipa Carneiro

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I used 3.5 skeins of Juniper Moon Zooey in Mint to knit the Cascata top by Filipa Carneiro. This is a cotton-linen DK yarn with a slubby texture, and I like the fabric it made. However, I found that the yarn split easily. If you use sharp needles like I did, pay attention to prevent splitting!

The Cascata tee pattern has instructions for top down construction. I started with neckline that states to purl one row (wrong side) then knit one row (right side), which turned out just a curling, stockinette neckline. The instructions should say to purl one row, then knit one row, to make a garter stitch border. When I finished, I picked up stitches around the neckline, then purled one row, knit one row, then bound off. This added an edge to the neckline to prevent excess curling, but it is still a little wonky. However, I think it as a ‘design feature’ because I’m too lazy to fix it!

The pattern includes German short rows for back neck shaping. This was the first time I did this, having been used to wrap-and-turn short rows from my Lyngen pullover. Overall, though, they were easy to manage. The yarnover increases show up as lace eyelets at the yoke. I think those eyelets look sweet, and thankfully their position is just above the bra line.

To add sleeves, I placed the sleeve stitches on a scrap of yarn as a holder. After knitting the body, I then added 10 rows of knitting to the sleeves. I purled one row, knit one row, then bound off to get the same finish as the neckline and hem.

The defining detail of the Cascata top is the triangular lace insert on the left side. I used one BOR stitch marker, two stitch markers to denote beginning and end of lace section, and stitch markers to show 8-stitch repeats of lace pattern. Although I like the fabric it made, the Zooey yarn was hard on my hands when knitting lace (especially when making CDD), as it has no stretch.

I was able to finish knitting my Cascata in just over 1 month. The Cascata top only comes in three sizes (S,M,L); I made size Large using 2.0 mm needles.

For the size Large, I found an error in the last chart (E); row 131 should have a CDD (centred double decrease) between the two yarnovers, following the pattern as in the rest of the chart.

The free Cascata pattern is available on Ravelry here.