I finished my Hirne cardigan early in the month and have hardly taken it off since. It is beautiful!

This cardigan, designed by Kate Davies, has the most lovely and understated features. Each detail of the design has been thoughtfully worked out and they combine in the most pleasing manner. I find it very peaceful, both to knit and to look at. Kate says that, in Scots, ‘hirne’ means ‘a cosy nook or corner’. It is a very apt name for a very cosy cardigan:

I used Kate’s yarn, Ooskit, a 100% wool, which is DK, undyed and worsted spun. This is the lightest shade, Riach, which is described as a pale, silver grey, but which I find is slightly more oatmeal than grey. This shade is very much outside of my usual palette of bright jewel colours. I worried that it would be a bad choice and wouldn’t work with anything in my wardrobe, but I’ve been surprised by how much I like this neutral shade.

I started knitting Hirne in mid-September, when I was still on sick leave and both my brain and body were operating at half-mast. I needed something calming and simple to knit. Although one might argue that the lace patterning on the yoke adds complexity, I trusted Kate to write a pattern which would fit and which would flow, and where all of the details would already be worked out. (And I hoped that by the time I was up to the yoke, I would be feeling better.)

The pattern is designed to be knitted in the round and steeked. I decided to knit it flat instead. This involved a few very minor changes, but is really an easy conversion. This turns out to be the only modification I made. Everything else was knitted exactly to pattern.

I wrote in a previous post that I struggled a bit with choosing the size, and in particular, I kept second-guessing myself while kitting the sleeves, which I worried were too tight. I ended up, after doing a bit of frogging and re-knitting on the sleeves, following the pattern exactly and I think the fit turned out really well. I made a size 5, 43.5 inches, and the blocked cardigan is bang-on gauge, which gives me zero ease.

One of the most interesting features is the way the buttonbands are done in the front. It uses an i-cord bind-off and incorporated i-cord buttonholes, which are nearly invisible. It is a new technique to me and I really like the look.

You may have noticed that there are no buttons on my Hirne; I haven’t yet found any that I like. But as you can see, the cardigan doesn’t look like it is missing something because the buttonholes are not in your face. In fact, I won’t worry if I don’t end up finding buttons I like, because I am very much enjoying this cardigan the way it is.

Happy Sunday, everyone!
Wow! Love your Hirne. I’m like you, I love color but find it difficult to knit a neutral. Now I’m really tempted.
Gosh that’s gorgeous!! But I love your pants too, especially that navy windowpane pair!
Very nice! Something to be said for a go-with-everything cardigan, and your photos show it looking very good with your usual richer, deeper colours. I do like the icord band hiding the buttonholes.
Beautiful cardigan and beautifully knitted !
Love the scarf with the rainbow ends too
Thanks for sharing. I just saved it in my favorites. It looks great with both outfits. LOVE that it looks great without buttons as I rarely button my cardigans.
Dress it up, dress it down – chic and versatile!
Your cardigan is beautiful! That is a sweater that really will go with almost anything, and it looks like it fits you perfectly 🙂
may I repost on WORDPRESS, onto my blog, these fashionable findings?
Pingback: Hirne 2: The one that pops! | Knitigating Circumstances
I would love to make this pattern without using skeets as you did but I don’t know how to convert the pattern. Can you advise? Thank you. Robyn
Hi Robyn, you left this question on another of my Hirne posts as well, and I answered it there. Find it in the comments to this post: https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2023/05/29/hirne-2-the-one-that-pops/. Best, Kelly
Hope you don’t mind, Kelly, that I posted a link to your cardi and how-to conversion, plus a pic, on the KDD blog. I love seeing your projects. Thanks for sharing your beautiful knitting!
Kate
Thanks for the shout-out, Kate! I loved knitting both my Hirnes. And I’m getting a kick out of wearing them, too!