Ranunculus Sweater FO September 2020
Contents
Last weekend, almost by accident, I cast on for a Ranunculus Sweater. I was using some very deep stash, Sirdar Romance in colour 150 Khaki which has a fine gold thread running through it and feels almost cashmere soft. It’s a surprise as it’s a very cheap yarn bought in the sales.
Ranunculus Sweater – about the pattern
It’s by Midori Hirose and has two files for the English version one up to a 49″ finished chest and the other to cover plus sizes with the largest finished measurement being 65″ chest. Depending on the fit you want, that could fit up to a 65″ chest with no ease or a 48″ chest with a LOT of ease.
Ranunculus Sweater Neckline Options
It’s knit top down, in the round with two options for the neckline, a narrower neck and a wider neckline. I chose the wider neckline and I’m very happy with that. My first cast on, which I ripped out, was the narrower neckline but I soon realised that I needed to go up to a 7.5mm needle for the body and 8mm for sleeves. I didn’t do the front neck short rows but I did do the back neck short row shaping.
Ranunculus Sweater Sleeves
I didn’t pick up as many underarm stitches for the sleeves as I knew I was going to be very tight on yarn, other than that, I knitted the sleeves to 9 inches, changed to 5mm needles and worked 5 rows k1, p1 ribbing then cast off in rib pattern.
Ranunculus Sweater Body
I knitted the body to 14 inches from the underarm, worked 4 rows in k1, p1 ribbing using the same needles as the body, then used a stretchy bind purl bind off.
I am super pleased with it, as those of you who watch our videos on YouTube or Facebook will know, I am a Slimming World member and losing weight gradually. I tried the sweater on and it’s a good fit with very little ease, but on Victoria who is a 38″chest it’s just nice. It’ll fit me for a while and as I drop a few sizes, it’ll still be a good fit.
Ranunculus Sweater FO September 2020 
Ranunculus Folded on a backdrop of teal washed planks 
Close up of Yoke of Sweater 
Sweater laid flat with yoke detail 
Loraine wearing the sweater before weaving in the ends, oops
Yarns suitable for Ranunculus are:
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.