The chunky cardigan has been away for a while, but this year it is back. Who What Wear has it on its list of this winter's knitwear trends. You can wear it as a jacket outside and as a sweater indoors.
Thick and textured
A Message – The Long Jacket is knitted in wide rib with popcorn stitches. It comes in green and in white, as A Message Snow, and in both long and short.
Summer Green – The Cardigan is knitted in half brioche in alpaca on 9 mm needles, and Everglow – The Cardigan is the same cardigan in another version. Half brioche gives a thick, soft fabric that holds in the warmth.
Mohair and embroidery
Krokus – The Jacket is purple mohair with embroidered crocuses. May – The Cardigan is short, with knitted flower stems and embroidered crocuses. Coloratura Black is the black mohair cardigan, and it also comes in a Beginner Edition.
London – The Cardigan is short and wide, knitted from leftover mohair.
How to wear it
A long, chunky cardigan can replace your coat on the mildest days. A belt at the waist gives it shape. The short one looks good over a dress or with high-waisted trousers.
My cardigans have disappeared before I managed to keep one for myself. Now I dream of knitting May in black, and A Message in the short version, also in black.
Did you know …
The cardigan is named after a British general. James Brudenell, the Earl of Cardigan, led the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War in 1854. The same war gave us two other words from the knitting world: balaclava, after the town, and raglan, after Lord Raglan, the British commander-in-chief.
Sources: Who What Wear, October 2026, FACES, Knitwear Trends Fall/Winter 2026/27 and Wordorigins, cardigan / raglan / balaclava.
Anne-Turid <3