This striking 1940s pattern is by far the single most popularly recreated of all the Tyrolean designs of that era. Social media reveals that it is knitted many times over in a multitude of colours, a testament to its longevity as a favourite. It could not be missed out of this collection, as it holds a very significant place in the enduring passion for vintage Tyrolean style.

The fashion for exaggerated shoulders reached a peak in 1945–46 (think of Joan Crawford’s legendary Mildred Pierce) and the model’s styling also strongly suggests that this pattern is probably from the immediate post-war period. The pleated fashioning of the sleeve tops is also the same as that featured in an equally popular Fair Isle top (coincidentally modelled by the same lady) in an issue of Woman’s Weekly magazine of 1946, helping the dating to within one or two years.

The significance of the date is that this was the height of wool shortages in Britain. With some food rationing continuing on until 1954, rationing for clothing and materials was still firmly in place for many more years until 1949, and wool in ever-short supply. Though this Bestway pattern fuels the fire of fascination for Tyrolean-style knitwear, there are no woolgobbling textures of bobbles or cables, just a simple stocking stitch body with moss stitch panel at the yoke, adorned with stylized flower motifs and touches of coloured embroidery worked from small amounts of wool – ideal for using up left-over yarn, and not in the least extravagant. The shaping of the sleeves makes the statement of fashionable 1940s style, and the last little touch of a tied cord added to the front neck gives it the hallmark of being ‘Tyrolean’.

The coloured motifs are worked in a variation of Fair Isle technique, where small quantities of colour are knitted in separate blocks with the main colour stranded behind. The alternative would be to use intarsia technique, though neither of these is an especially easy technique, in that it is difficult for even experienced knitters to control the gapping that naturally occurs as colours are joined together. It is well worth practising the technique before embarking on a lovingly worked project like this cardigan.

If you prefer, you can knit the entire garment in plain stocking stitch and embroider the motifs on after knitting, where a cross stitch will be very effective, as for the Edeleweiss Jacket. Alternatively Swiss darning can be worked, which uses chain stitches placed over each original knitted stitch to look as if they have been knitted.

The original pattern does not provide a chart for the motifs, but line-by-line instructions. A coloured chart is included with the instructions as a guide for those who prefer to follow a chart, and as a template if you prefer to embroider the motifs after the knitting is completed.

Materials

• Short sleeves 6 × 50 g balls in cream
• Long sleeves 7 × 50 g balls
• 1 × 50 g ball Green (G) and small amounts of Red (R), Yellow (Y) and Blue (B) for colour work (you will not use a whole ball of either of these when used for knitting, and the pattern specifies the following lengths for economy): 18 yards (16.5 m) Yellow, 24 yards (23 m) Red, 9 yards (8.5 m) Blue
• 12 buttons (as this is a difficult number to source in vintage buttons, you can re-align the spacing of buttonholes worked to suit the number of buttons found, as explained in the notes with the instructions. You need around 9 to ensure a neat closing of the fronts)