I recently finished Giles’ Cobblestone Jumper (pattern by Jared Flood), and although I haven’t yet got a picture of him wearing it, here is a glimpse of it just after blocking. It was a very easy pattern, with plenty of scope for multi-tasking or watching the telly while making. Giles requested stripy sleeves as his only stipulation further than it should have grey as one colour. He chose a lovely blue and a grey from Jamieson and Smith’s Soft Spun Aran which made a dense, hardwearing fabric when knitted up on the 4mm needles that I got tension with. To be honest, the stripes added interest to the knitting while I did the sleeves, which otherwise would have been plain. I knitted 5 rows of blue interspersed with 3 rows of grey to make a pleasingly proportioned stripe.
The most arduous (read boring) bit was the garter stitch yoke which was knitted last, joining the body and the sleeves. It incorporates short rows to shape around the shoulders and to make the back of the jumper rise higher than the front. It seemed to incorporate acres and acres of knitting that went on for days on end, but believe me when I say it is well worth it as the finished jumper is lovely and fits beautifully. You can see the project on Ravelry, here.
On the subject of stripes, because I have a real taste for them just now, last week I cast on for Orianna Eklund’s Daffodil cardigan. It has a top-down yoked construction. I’m not usually a fan of the top down sweater, but that is because I find that a raglan doesn’t suit me as much as a set-in sleeve, plus I prefer to knit flat rather than in the round, or seamlessly. I have not knitted a yoked sweater before so this will be a first, both in construction and to see whether I think it suits me.
I’m using Biggan First Cross Merino dk yarn with the main colour in Imperial Jade, after swatching with a number of other yarns. The pattern calls for (as it says on it’s ravelry notes) a sport weight yarn knitted on 3mm needles, but giving a tension of 22 st and 28 rows per 10cm. Try as I might, I couldn’t match the tension without the knitted fabric looking ever so lacey and I didn’t think that would suit this cardigan at all. Having looked at some other people’s ravelry projects, it seemed that the majority of them used a double knitting weight yarn with much larger needles than suggested, as I have now done.
The cardigan is coming along nicely: I am just past the main yoke and on to the body. Perhaps it will get the stripes out of my system!