I’ve been dithering about my Daelyn sweater for months, probably most of last year. It’s been on my needles since 31st December 2018. I know, I should be horrified, but it’s not my oldest WIP by a long, long way. It is, however, a luxury yarn and an investment so I need to either finish it, frog it and knit something else or put it away and pretend it doesn’t exist.
I opted to finish the Daelyn sweater, picked up the underarm stitches and am now working the first sleeve, in the round. That wouldn’t be my first choice, as I prefer sleeves worked flat, I purl faster than I knit and it speeds things up. I don’t enjoy knitting small circumference items and sleeves are my nemesis.
This is me wearing my Daelyn Sweater before starting the sleeves, taken in March of 2020 at the start of lockdown.
I’m using Malabrigo Rios in the Archangel colourway. It’s richly purple with oranges, peach, khaki green, greys, yellows and warm reds. I love it. The yarn needs to be worked in stripes of two rows or rounds per skein to minimise colour pooling. Notice, I don’t say to prevent it, as you can never quite be sure it’ll be perfect. Look at the purple pooling (purpling) on the front shoulders.
I’m using two balls of yarn and striping them every two rows to minimise the pooling, it’ll never eliminate it entirely but hopefully I won’t look like I’ve got bruised arms.
I’m about four inches into the first sleeve and tempted to pick up stitches for the other sleeve so I can work on them both at the same time. To be clear, I don’t mean two at a time on circular needles, the last time I tried that my sweater sleeves look more like kids trousers.
Once the sleeves of my sweater are finished, I will weave in ends and pick up stitches for the neckband, that’ll be worked in the round on a 16 inch circular needle.
I’m wishing I had added a few more short rows to the neckline to drop the front in relation to the back, but I am very happy with the fit of the sweater itself. I do love her designs and the patterns are always very well written.
The pattern includes sizing and instructions for both men and women and it’s easy to adapt sleeve or body length to suit the recipient.
What are you finishing off this year?
How old is your oldest WIP? No shame here, let’s celebrate them and make a choice to finish it, fix it, frog it or forget it. What’s it to be?
What’s on my needles, is it a poncho, a wrap, a bolero or a blanket?
After a conversation with a good friend, Helen, she talked to me about a poncho she wears a lot. It’s not a garment style that I have in my wardrobe but it’s been on my list to make one for several years.
We chatted about shapes and styles that are flattering, particularly for plus size sizes and I was keen to design a poncho that was versatile. But, also an easy knit for someone new to cables, with stocking stitch sections for an easy TV knit. That would be your go-to for an extra layer on cooler days, evenings or at the park with the kids when the breeze is a bit more than you expected.
I didn’t want to work the piece bottom up and I’ll explain my reasons why. If you aren’t a shawl knitter, a sweater or cardigan knitter, it can be daunting to be asked to cast on a lot of stitches. I almost always use longtail or the thumb cast on which uses the tail of the yarn and the working yarn to effectively knit your first row as you make your stitches.
If you’re familiar with it, you’ll have had the experience of being short of yarn, or having too long a tail at the end. As I knew I’d have to cast on a lot of stitches, I used a piece of yarn from two balls, one for the ‘tail’ and one for the working yarn. At the end of the cast on, and having counted my stitches very carefully, I cut the tail, leaving an end to weave in and worked a wrong side (WS) row with the ball that is now my working yarn.
Why working the poncho one piece sideways wouldn’t work
My other option was to work the Wheatsheaf Cable section to the height I needed, and pick up stitches for the stocking stitch portion of the poncho. I wanted to add buttons and buttonholes, to give you several ways to wear your poncho. That would mean picking up stitches for borders, adding edgings and a lot of faffing about. It would be an interesting and more advanced piece to knit, but how many people would want to knit it knowing the work involved?
Here’s my swatch, showing an icord cast on, an icord end to the cable, side border with icord knitted at the same time and stitches (on the left of the photo) picked up to work sideways from the cable section to make the rectangular piece. It uses different directions, picking up stitches, adding applied icord to finish one edge and an icord cast on for the lower edge of the cable. It’s hard to make it match and have some symmetry.
Knitting a wide Poncho bottom up and why?
Why I’m knitting my Poncho bottom up and why that’s a far better idea. The icord edgings I want to give the piece finesse and a neat edge can be knitted at the same time as the rest of the poncho. The button bands and buttonholes are also knitted as you go. The side borders can also have buttonholes if you wish to wear the piece folded like an asymmetric poncho and create the illusion of cuffs.
Working bottom up, even with a lot of stitches, is as easy as knitting a simple shawl, once the knitting is finished, you add buttons, weave in ends and you are done. No picking up, no fancy finishing. If you don’t want to add buttons, you can just fold the piece and seam it closed and only wear it two ways. If you take the time to add a few buttons (super easy) then you have at least three ways to wear the poncho, maybe more.
Ways to wear the poncho, rough sketches over some designers croquis.
The Wheatsheaf Poncho after two vertical repeats of the cable pattern
Poncho laid flat on a wooden background, knitted using Addi 5.5mm circular needle and Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool in Spruce, a blue/green. The poncho has a decorative cable on the right and left of the wide rectangular piece.
What’s next with the poncho pattern and testing?
We’ve been thinking of events and Knit Alongs/Crochet Alongs (KALs/CALs) to have during the year to keep everyone entertained and another designer in our group is also working on a poncho pattern. Our plan is start at the end of January (Sunday 31st) and the Poncho Along will end on 30th April. I’ll have the pattern ready to test and any of my testers can take part in the Poncho Along, with their garment.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and every good wish for 2021
What’s going on at Woolly?
Those of you who receive our email newsletter may know that I was unwell between Christmas and the New Year with suspected Norovirus. We won’t discuss it, you know what it is and we can just leave that in the past.
I’m back to full health and catching up with correspondence, working on some patterns and filled with hope for the coming year.
What’s on my needles/hooks?
I didn’t knit or crochet a single thing while I was unwell and it took me until the middle of January to really get back into the swing of things.
I finished another Ribbed for MY Pleasure Hat, to test the pattern again before sending it to the Tech Editor and having it proof read. The brim uses a provisional cast on and is folded inside the hat and worked together with the live stitches for a double thick brim. Links to how to do this will be included in the pattern.
Ribbed for MY Pleasure Hat knitted with James C Brett Woodlander in colourway L9 muted blues, sand and beach colours with cream and light browns.
Another hat was finished, knitted in a couple of evenings using Rowan Yarn Company Cashsoft Aran in light blue, it’s another Bay6 design featuring simple knits, purls and easy decreases to shape the crown and give it that quilted appearance.
I’m stuck for a name, I had thought A Girl’s Best Friend (for the diamonds). But maybe I should continue the theme and go with Quilted for MY Pleasure? What do you think?
Bay6 Quilted hat using Aran weight yarn in light blue.
It’s a quick knit and I enjoyed the stranded colourwork. I also found this amazing pompom for the top.
The Big Crush Hat, shown in japonica pink with blue colourwork band.
I am still working on Alameda by Clarice Gomes, it’s a lovely pattern and I really enjoyed it. The shawl will be fabulous and it’s a really enjoyable knit.
I had the urge to knit socks – what is wrong with me?
I started with the James C Brett Woodlander and used leftovers of the L9 colourway to knit some basic dk weight vanilla socks, top-cuff-cown and really enjoyed knitting them.
Basic Vanilla socks in dk yarn in beachy colours
I then cast on another pair, my friends think I’ve been replaced by an alien, but I am enjoying them. Another basic vanilla pair but using some West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley DK in a blue/teal colour, gifted by a good friend. Perfect for socks.
Basic socks knitted in Teal yarn, Aire Valley DK by West Yorkshire Spinners
What’s next?
Well, I cast on some more socks, using Stylecraft Jeanie Aran in Denim Blue, the pattern is Ultimate Answer Socks by Mary E Rose Designs and I am loving them. Top-cuff-down and an easy knit, only one cable crossing per repeat, basic knits and purls and simple decreases/increases. Easy, well explained and I love them.
Linnutee (Estonian for Milky Way, however the direct translation would be A Birds Path) is a cute tee specially designed for gradient yarn cakes or mini skein sets. It would also be a great way to use up those self striping yarns you aren’t sure how to use.
It is completely sized to fit each part of your body, from the hips to the shoulders. If you have trouble getting your sweaters to fit, this book is for you!
I’ve knitted this myself to test the pattern for Emma, it’s easy, relaxing and a great way to use up scraps of sock or sport weight yarns to knit a very lightweight but super warm sweater for cool days and nights.
I love the collar on this cardigan, but suggest you look at other projects for this garment on Ravelry as the designers photos, whilst beautiful, are really dark and are very hard to see.
The body of the cardigan is worked in a lovely lace-pattern. The sleeves are worked in stockinette sts, and could be worked to any length. The hems of the body/sleeves are folded back. The cardigan is supposed to be roomy and comfortable, with it’s rounded neck, and box-shaped body.
Part poncho, part pullover, and all pretty with flattering ombre neckline and an elaborate and large floral motif around the yoke. Knitted in sport weight yarn and perfect for mini skins, gradient sets or self stripers.
I love the mustard colour at the start of the top down yoke on this one, a beautiful contrast to the crisp cream and navy. Knitted in DK for a relatively quick knit.
The pullover is knitted from side to side in one piece beginning with a provisional cast-on. Pockets are cleverly knit in. Cowl and ribbing at hem are picked up and knitted. Sleeves are knitted from the top in the round, and sleeve caps are shaped with short rows.
Once Again is a top-down, pullover sweater; knit in-the-round with a stranded yoke that is coupled with simple cable stitches. Short rows are used to shape the neckline after the yoke pattern is completed.
Utmost Happiness sweater is worked seamlessly top-down. After a ribbing for neckband and set of short rows to raise the back of the sweater, a round yoke is decorated with an elaborate cable pattern achieved with mosaic knitting.
Two colour stranded knitting, simple but stunning. I love the use of a variegated yarn and a great way to use those pesky skeins with lots of pattern or colour.
Indie Gift Along 2020 my WIPs, FOs and plans for December knitting and crochet.
I cast on the Ronan Cardigan by Tiona Murphy for the Gift Along, it’s going to my friends Ben and Kelly for their new baby boy who was born a few weeks ago. I used Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool in the Denim colourway and it works well with the cables. It’s also machine wash for a new and busy Mum of two.
I’m also sending them a couple of cotton burp cloths from a pattern by my good friend Emma Sadler, it’s called Muzies.
I have wanted to knit Alameda by Clarice Gomes since I saw her knitting the sample in a beautiful green colour when we met on a Saturday night Zoom knit and natter which we both go to. It’s absolutely stunning and I love it so much. I’m using Lanas Stop Bambini in the Linen colourway. You can buy that yarn here. I’ve knitted a bit more since then and will add another photo to the project page, click the image below to see more info.
This is Clarice’s sample
I did another crochet test of a pattern for Lillinette Crochet of her Ilsan pattern, you can make two of the squares and join them to make a Biscornu which is a clever construction and makes a very pretty pin cushion. I used scraps of DK sparkly yarn in silver grey, purple and magenta.
I cast on for the CareAway Shawl, I’m not sure I made the best yarn choice, but I do absolutely love the colours, it’s a creamy white, a light grey and a mustard yellow and is called Skittles. The yarn is Stylecraft Bambino DK.
