Emma showed me her Vera sweater months ago and I may have been pestering her to get on with finishing the pattern and starting the test knits. She launched the test knitting last night and I signed up to make the 42″ chest which will give me no ease at the bust. I may also, with permission as it’s a test knit, be adding a bit of hip shaping to accommodate my curves so the lower body will be a larger size. I’d tell you which size, but being a lady, it would be impolite to mention it 🙂
Vera Sweater – a basic, everyday V neck which will probably be my go-to for this Winter.
Emma made her sweater using West Yorkshire Spinners sock yarn in a pale grey and with a patterned colourway for the sleeves, I think it works really well to add interest and you could use up a bag of sock yarn leftovers for the sleeves.
Yarn choices for the Vera Sweater
I do have a vast stash of yarn, but we won’t talk about that right now … So, after a bit of stash diving, okay a lot of stash diving, I decided to use Lanas Stop Bambini in Antique Rose as my main colour.
Lanas Stop Bambini Antique Pink 320
I still need to choose a contrast colour for the sleeves and that may be either Araucania Ranco sock yarn or some Drops Fabel or Delight yarn. The Araucania may be put to one side as it’s handwish and the Lanas Stop is machine washable. I am not great at hand washing items, they lay in the basket forever waiting. Do you hand wash your knits?
Would you like to test knit the Vera Sweater?
I’m including a link to the Ravelry thread where Emma is running the test knit, you can sign up there if you’re interested.
4ply wool fingering weight, sock yarns
4ply wool fingering weight and sock yarns
In the UK we call fingering weight yarn 4ply, as typically it was a finer yarn spun from 4 plies of yarn, but many 4ply yarns are now spun from only one or two plies.
4ply yarn is great for socks, shawls, gloves and other accessories such as shawls, wraps and scarves.  It is lightweight but depending on the wool content can also be lovely and warm.
It is wonderful for Fair Isle and colour work projects using 100% wool to give a lighter garment despite the almost double thickness of the resulting patterned fabric.
It produces beautiful lacy knits and often blocks well to show the resulting lacework pattern.
It can be stranded double to knit a heavier garment or to achieve ombre type effects in the garment or fabric.
Superwash sock and fingering weight yarns are fantastic for baby clothing as busy Mum’s will appreciate a machine washable garment which is both easy care and hard wearing. Sock yarns often contain up to 25% nylon to add strength, think heels and toes that get a lot of wear going in and out of your shoes, to the yarn.
Find My Way Cowl, Adjustable cowl, change length and width
For the chunky version of the Find My Way Cowl, I used Stylecraft Bellissima Chunky in Precious Posy, for the two colour version shown below I used Rowan Cashsoft Aran in Foxglove and Japonica, for the four colour DK version I used Stylecraft Special DK in Mocha, Mushroom, Pale Rose and Grap. You can knit the cowl to any length and there are stitch counts suggested to adapt the width to suit what you want. You can buy the pattern here
Aran prototype test knit for my new design Behind The Green Door Cowl, out this month, another adjustable pattern to make to any length or width and in any weight of yarn.
Our Cowlabunga KAL starts mid March with the hashtags #knittingacrossthepennines and #cowlabunga There will be prizes for the best FO’s made during the KAL and spot prizes of pattern codes for FO and WIP photos shared on social media with the two hashtags.
Emma Sadler of Emma Sadler Designs and Loraine Birchall of Woolly Madly Deeply. We design knitwear and some crochet items. Emma is based in Yorkshire, East of the Pennines and Loraine is based in Cumbria, West of the Pennines.
Lionbrand Vanna’s Choice® Vanna White, America’s favorite crocheter and Lion Brand’s spokesperson for over 14 years, introduces Vanna’s Choice®, an easy-care, silky-soft premium basic available in a range of beautiful, expertly-coordinated shades.
I used Stylecraft Special Aran with wool to knit a short loop say 24-26 inches long and about 11 inches wide, super soft, warm and snuggle. I love the rich, cranberry colour of the yarn. You can buy the pattern here
Photo copyright Loraine Birchall
Aran prototype test knit for my new design Behind The Green Door Cowl, out this month, another adjustable pattern to make to any length or width and in any weight of yarn.
Behind The Green Door Cowl – Chunky version
Gallery of Test Knitters samples
As always, I couldn’t do this without the help, support and suggestions of my amazing Test Knitters, there’s a sneak peak of some of their projects below. I hope you love them as much as I do.
Our Cowlabunga KAL starts mid March with the hashtags #knittingacrossthepennines and #cowlabunga There will be prizes for the best FO’s made during the KAL and spot prizes of pattern codes for FO and WIP photos shared on social media with the two hashtags.
Emma Sadler of Emma Sadler Designs and Loraine Birchall of Woolly Madly Deeply. We design knitwear and some crochet items. Emma is based in Yorkshire, East of the Pennines and Loraine is based in Cumbria, West of the Pennines.
Lionbrand Vanna’s Choice® Vanna White, America’s favorite crocheter and Lion Brand’s spokesperson for over 14 years, introduces Vanna’s Choice®, an easy-care, silky-soft premium basic available in a range of beautiful, expertly-coordinated shades.
Introducing Santa Tea Cozy, Elf Tea Cozy or Gnome Tea Cozy, Snowman Tea Cozy and Gingerbread Man Tea Cozy, all made with chunky/bulky weight yarn using 6mm and 6.5mm needles (US 10 and 10.5).
Each cozy only took a few hours to knit and would easily be completed over a couple of evenings with the embellishments.
L to R Santa Tea Cozy, Gingerbread Man Tea Cozy and Snowman Tea Cozy
This cute Snowman Tea cozy has adorable stick arms, a knitted beanie hat and a warm scarf with optional fringe edging. He can carry a tree, gifts or a gift sack and will look lovely on your Christmas table.
Snowman Tea Cozy from Christmas Tea Cozies by Loraine Birchall
Gingie is a adorable, but he didn’t start out looking quite so cute. Let’s say my embroidery skills needed some work and my first four attempts made him look more like a serial killer than a cute addition to Christmas. With a bit of unpicking and then using some pins to mark out where I wanted to sew, he was suddenly adorable!
About the Christmas Tea Cozies ebook
The Christmas Tea Cozies collection will add some festive fun to your table or dresser this Christmas. There are patterns for Santa, Gingerbread Man, Snowman and an Elf.
Each Christmas Tea Cozy pattern has options for three sizes which can be adapted to fit most teapots. Each cozy is worked flat and seamed, however the arms/mittens for the cozies (except the Snowman who has optional ‘stick’ arms) are worked in the round using Judy’s Magic Cast On to start.
Each cozy has a pointy hat with either a pompom or tassel, I opted for the tassel and went big on those, you can make smaller or slimmer tassels if you prefer. It’s really up to you.
I’ve included different embellishments and options for each pattern, so you can make every cozy with extras to suit the recipient.
Sizes of Teapots Used:
Measurement A – horizontally across the front of the pot, from inside the handle to the start of the spout around the belly of the pot only (excludes handle and spout).
Measurement B – Vertically from the centre front base of the pot to the rim at the top of the pot and not including the height of the lid as this will vary from one style to another.
Small 2 cup teapot – A = 5in/22.5cm, B = 3.75in/9.5cm
Standard 4 cup teapot – A = 9in/23cm, B = 5.5in/13.5 cm
Large 2 ½ pint teapot – A = 11.5in/29cm, B = 5.5in/13.5 cm
Note on sizes for the Large Cozy, you could sew the side seams closed and use this on a standard 4 cup pot to lift on and off without spout/handle holes.
I used a Denby Wheatsheaf 2 cup pot for the small, a Brown Betty 4-6 cup pot for the medium and a Portmeirion 2 pint pot for the large.
I used a mix of chunky/bulky yarns. Lion Brand Alpine Wool for the cozies in the Chili colourway, Stylecraft Special Chunky or any chunky yarn would be fine. I used Schoeller Filzi in Cream instead of white, Rav says it’s super bulky – it knits as bulky/chunky weight year on 6mm or 6.5mm needles. Again you could sub for Special Chunky or use two strands of Special DK as long as you get the same tension/gauge.
I easily made each of the Christmas Tea Cozy over a couple of evenings so they are a quick knit for Christmas gifting. The small cozies took me around 4-6 hours to knit, so they’re a quick gift knit.
I wanted to show you our Wheatsheaf Cowl Pattern, for sale on Ravelry.  I used some wonderful Rowan Yarn Company Cashsoft Aran which is softer than butter and so warm.   I made samples of the Wheatsheaf Cowl pattern using both Aran and DK weight yarns. The difference in circumference was 26inch for the Aran and 22 inch for the DK version. One of our pattern testers for the Wheatsheaf Cowl knitted the cable pattern repeat twice to make a taller cowl, you’d use more yarn, but it would be fabulously warm if you live in colder climate.
Knitted in aran weight yarn, the Wheatsheaf Cowl is a speedy knit, easily made over a few evenings of knitting. Ideal for Christmas knitting or gift knits.
A great stash buster, the Wheatsheaf Cowl is a quick knit.  Easily finished in a few evenings by the fire and is toasty warm.   Great for gifting and a chance to use up a bit of stash, you’ll need between 200-225 yards (depending on size) but you’ll need more if you knit a deeper cowl.
Wheatsheaf Cowl knitting pattern, image shows matching Wheatsheaf Hat
You could cast on three times as many stitches for a looped style cowl if you wanted the extra warmth, but this will use at least three times the yardage and you might need a little extra if you add depth/height to the ribbed sections. This would loop easily twice around your neck and look fabulous.
The cable pattern used in the Wheatsheaf Cowl pattern reminds me of a Wheatsheaf, hence the name, but bluesocks thought they looked like X’s for kisses. Either way, I love it. It’s a quick knit, great way to use up small amounts of yarn and you can make a matching set as a gift.
The cable pattern has both charted and written instructions to suit your preference.
Wheatsheaf Cowl on cushion
Wheatsheaf Cowl Tension/Gauge
Gauge/Tension for body of cowl in cable pattern – unstretched: 16sts x 32 rows = 3in x 4in/7.5cm x 10cm with 5mm/US8 16sts x 32rows = 3 5/8th in 9.25cm x 4in/7.5cm x 10cm with 5.5mm/US9
Wheatsheaf Cowl Recommended Yarns
I made samples using the following yarns:
Rowan Yarn Company Cashsoft Aran
Rowan Cashsoft DK
Stylecraft Special DK
My Test Knitters used
Zeeman Royal
Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK
I found the Aran weight yarn washed really well and still looks as good as the day it was knitted.  The matching hat has worn equally well and is machine washable on a delicate setting.
I think you would need to use a cable needle for any of the Wheatsheaf patterns, the earlier cables in the pattern can be done without, but the central crossover cable does need a cable needle, or spare dpn.
I’ve been asked by a couple of knitters if the cowl could be worked in chunky or bulky weight yarn. The simple answer is yes. However, you’d need to go up a needle size to perhaps a 6mm needle to get enough drape to the piece and obviously both the height and circumference of the cowl would change.
I haven’t tried this myself so I can’t help you on yardage/meters required to complete the cowl.
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We recently released our Wheatsheaf Aran Socks Pattern, for sale on Ravelry.  I used some wonderful Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted which was a gift from the lovely Joan Dyer.   The socks use different needle sizes to achieve three sizes from Ladies Small/Child up to a Mens size with options for slim, regular and slouchy fit.
Knitted in aran weight yarn, the Wheatsheaf Aran Socks are a quick knit, easily made over a few evenings of knitting. Ideal for Christmas knitting or gift knits.
A great stash buster, the Wheatsheaf Aran Socks are a quick knit.  Easily finished in a few evenings by the fire and are toasty warm.   Great for gifting and a chance to use up a bit of stash, you’ll need between 200-260 yards (depending on size and if you make the longer, folded cuff.
The socks can be knitted at a tighter or looser gauge/tension and feature ribbing on the cuff, back of the leg, heel flap and sole to ensure a nice fit for many foot sizes. The socks are made for lounging, wearing around the house instead of slippers and relaxing. They’re an attractive sock for lazy days and nights by the fire.
Sizes:
Small US 4-6.5/UK 3-5.5
Medium US 7-9/UK 6-8
Large US 9.5-11/UK 8.5-11
Options for
slim fit: 4mm/US6 for all sock
regular: 4mm cuff, 4.5mm for sock
slouchy 4.5mm cuff, 5mm for sock.
I made samples of the small size using 5mm needles for the body of the sock in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, they would easily fit a slimmer foot or a wider foot due to the nature of the yarn and how springy it is.
I made the large size using Stylecraft Heritage Aran (Acylic/wool blend) and 5mm needles. They fit a wider food very well and spring back to shape after a wash.
I made the small size using 4mm needles for the whole sock, this had good hard wearing fabric and was a lovely neat fit.
Sizing and Fit of the Wheatsheaf Aran Socks
If you want a slouchy sock, use larger needles and for a slimmer fitting more hard wearing sock, use smaller needles.
Size small using 4mm needles and acrylic blend yarn would easily stretch to fit a 9 inch foot circumference.
Size small using Lamb’s Pride and 5mm needles would easily stretch to a 10 or 11 inch foot circumference, but be less hard wearing.
If you need to make a longer foot, the charts are set up so you can repeat a section or part of chart as often as you need to get the desired length. I’ve also included which chart row I ended on for each of my samples so you have an idea of how it worked for me.
There are four options for your heel pattern. I’ve used a slip stitch heel and a ribbed heel for the samples, both worked well and gave a good fit.
I’m knitting another pair for Christmas this year, using some Rowan Calmer I had in stash. It’s so soft and will make such a comfy pair of socks.  I’m tempted to make them in my size and keep them 🙂
