Petroglyphs and Cave Art has fascinated me for many years. One sees motifs repeated from site to site which gives some tantalizing insight into the minds of our long distant ancestors. The motifs are clearly recognizable but their purpose remains unclear. Are the cave paintings and petroglyph carvings simply artistic expression? Do they record history or tell a story? Or are they religious or sacred in some way? Perhaps they are hopeful invocations for a good hunt tomorrow? Or maybe all of those and more? We can’t ever know those answers for sure, making them even more intriguing to us as we bring our own personal motivations and perceptions with us when we perceive them.

I’ve spent several weeks researching these motifs and collecting the ones that most resonated with me. I concentrated on European sites for the most part, although there is one South American motif that made it into the collection. I have purposefully omitted motifs that may still be considered sacred by extant Indigenous peoples. My arrangement of the motifs was driven strictly by my personal aesthetics with no effort at telling a particular story so they may appear a bit compacted when compared to actual cave painting photos. No matter; they are my favorite motifs and I hope that resonates with others as well.

I began designing this sweater using women’s sizing of S--3XL and you will see those sizes listed here and there. However, the shaping for this sweater is quite minimal and along with the chest measurements, I have since backtracked and consider this a unisex sweater. Never mind the fact that almost all of the test knits were claimed or coveted by males in the household, lol!

This colorwork sweater is definitely a pattern for expert knitters who have had plenty of experience with colorwork, especially with super long floats. The yarn, as shown, was custom dyed for this project by the lovely ladies at Olive & Two Ewe yarn company to my specifications to beautifully replicate the natural colors and textures that one sees in cave art all over the world. It is a superwash yarn, which means that care of the sweater is easy but the sleeve steeks must be well reinforced before the cutting (I describe the exact procedure in the instructions, of course).

Loose fitting sweater in chest sizes of 36, 41, 45, 50, 54, 58 inches with unisex styling. Straight tubular body (no shaping), steeked sleeve openings. Sleeves are picked up and knit downwards and are thus easily customizable in length. Knit in 3 colors of DK weight yarn. For the colorwork portion, main color (MC) should be a solid light color and the contrasting color (CC1) used for the colorwork should be darker. Different length options are given. Originally, the pattern was written for 6 lengths corresponding to the 6 chest sizes. However, if you’d really like a longer or shorter sweater than the length paired with your chest size, you may adjust. Note, however, that such body length adjustments will result in different yardages than the basics given for each size—you may have yarn left over or need more than is listed for that chest size.

Chest: 36” (S), length from shoulder seam; 26-30” (knitter’s choice), sleeves from slightly dropped shoulder: 18” (since sleeves are worked downwards, they are also easily customizable in length)

Chest: 41” (M), length from shoulder seam; 26-30” (knitter’s choice), sleeves from slightly dropped shoulder: 18” (since sleeves are worked downwards, they are also easily customizable in length)

Chest: 45” (L), length from shoulder seam; 26-30” (knitter’s choice), sleeves from slightly dropped shoulder: 18” (since sleeves are worked downwards, they are also easily customizable in length)

Chest: 50” (XL), length from shoulder seam; 26-30” (knitter’s choice), sleeves from slightly dropped shoulder: 18” (since sleeves are worked downwards, they are also easily customizable in length)

Chest: 54” (XXL), length from shoulder seam; 26-30” (knitter’s choice), sleeves from slightly dropped shoulder: 18” (since sleeves are worked downwards, they are also easily customizable in length)

Chest: 58” (3XL), length from shoulder seam; 26-30” (knitter’s choice), sleeves from slightly dropped shoulder: 18” (since sleeves are worked downwards, they are also easily customizable in length)

The large color work chart is included as a left and right panel on 2 separate pages of the written pattern. Due to its size it is rather challenging to read. After your purchase, if you would like to have the chart as a single .png or xcell file that you can then print out or expand on a digital ap, please contact me and I will be happy to email it to you.

Photo credits:
Photos 1 & 2: Liz Harris
Photos 3, 4, 5 & 6: Liz Schwabedissen