This is a lovely pattern. The instructions are super clear and this whole thing can be sewn using your regular sewing machine. I am going to try using my coverstitch for the bands on the next one.
Sandal Making Workshop | Rachel Sees Snail Shoes
Finally snagged a spot in one of Rachel’s sandal making workshops. I didn’t quite nail the fit on these – the vamps are just too thick and the thick leather needed more shaping than my design allowed, so they kinda slice into my big toes. They still need to be sanded, which is why I only have in progress photos.
Sophie Scarf | Petite Knit
I knit a lot of this during my Japan trip and finally finished it a couple weeks ago. This is before blocking. This color is so nice.
Melon Basket | Wildcraft Workshop taught by Textile Indie
Attended another basket making workshop to make this cute little melon basket. The wrapping technique reminded me of summer camp crafts. I’m thinking about dyeing it with indigo.
Welp, I had two sweater projects going at once, all while my knitting supplies are a complete mess because of this project at the bottom of the post. I have misplaced some needles and I’m big mad about it. But anyway, about the sweaters…
I started this Petite Knit No Frills Sweater in December – using the most expensive yarn I’ve purchased to date – and then signed up for a 4 week workshop at Ritual Dyes for the Ozetta Lakes Pullover. Before starting the Lakes, I got all the way to the hem on the body and then didn’t feel like tackling the sewn tubular cast off. I’m glad I didn’t, because I learned about some set up rows while knitting the Lakes that really helped with sewing the super fine to almost bulky yarn during the cast off.
I still have to visualize short row instructions with diagrams and notes. The BOR marker being at the center back really tripped me up.
I got a head start on the Lakes Pullover before the workshop began and I tried something out that I’m still not sure was the best idea. The construction on this sweater is so interesting – you start with the saddle shoulders and then build the sweater down from there. Because I’d need to pick up the same number of stitches for the neckline as the short ends of the saddles, I decided to use a provisional cast on instead of a long tail cast on.
The pros of this approach are that it made picking up those stitches super fast. Prior to this workshop, I didn’t really understand how to read the stitches and pick up in the “correct” spots. Thanks to the numerous tips from the instructor, I feel pretty good about that task now.
The cons of this approach are that it made picking up the first few stitches along the long edges of the saddles a little challenging/hard to see and it required more ends needing to be woven in. But hey, I can crochet a chain now.
In this workshop I learned how to knit a swatch in the round, how to calculate gauge, a neat trick for keeping track of sleeve rows, and so much more. In-person knitting workshop are so valuable.
The instructor recommended twisting stitches on the 1×1 rib by wrapping the yarn clockwise on the purls, which I tried but it felt so awkward I tinked back and did regular purls. I want to try this again on my next sweater since I want really tight hems and collars but don’t want to stress out my hands.
GAH! Look at this sweater! I’m so proud of it. Such a cool pattern and I feel like my skills are really improving. Just look at my first folded collar on the Towns Sweater. I think I might actually redo the neckline since I don’t wear it very much because it’s so… rustic.
I accidentally used a size US 6 needle for the body (remember my previously mentioned supplies mess?) when I meant to use a US 7. The recommended US 8 produced a pretty loose fabric that I didn’t like the look of on my swatch, so I sized down. After realizing I’d accidentally knit a lot with the US 6, I figured it would be fine since that’s the size I had used for my popcorn sweater and the fabric was looking nice.
The only changes I made to the pattern was to crop the body by an inch and half and I created selvage edges on the parts that were knit flat. I’ve worn this a ton and I’m just the tiniest bit bummed that we’re approaching warmer weather here in Portland.
Once my Lakes was blocked and on my body, I could work on the No Frills sweater again. This was the project I finally understood how to read my sleeve stitches and use those locking markers. This method meant I could knit anywhere without dragging around a row counter and obsessively taking notes on a piece of paper.
For the XL, you’re supposed to repeat the sleeve rows 21 times, but I had to stop after 16 for my short arms. The sleeves have a slight balloon to them because of that. I had 65 stitches and needed 52, so I *K2tog, K3, K2tog, K3* before starting the 1×1 rib. I was pretty pleased that made all the decreases perfectly spaced.
I like this yarn a lot but holy hell, I overbought. Like I could almost make an entire identical sweater overbought. The pattern only gives the amount in grams so I estimated 6-7 skeins. Under the guidance of a LYS, I purchased 8. I used 4.25. 💸💸💸💸💸 Guess I’m making a matching shawl?
I sewed some black elastic thread into the neckline before blocking because it was definitely a lot wider than I wanted and knew it would only get bigger once wet. I think if I make this pattern again, I will do a folded collar following the instructions in the Ozetta Seasons Pullover.
My husband is very particular about his clothes and will only wear this one hat he bought in college. So when he asked if I could recreate this unicorn hat, I thought it might be a fun puzzle to solve. After all, even if I could find a pattern for a similar style, the odds of him liking it would be pretty slim.
After a lot of counting, I was able to write up a simple pattern, but I had my doubts. Did I actually get the yarn weight right? Is my math correct? If it’s not an exact copy, will he even wear it?
Version 2
I’m sharing the pattern here mainly so that I can reference it later. Feel free to use it but I’m not responsible for the outcome!
It only took a few hours to knit up and it’s pretty darn close to the original! The original also has a micro fleece band on the inside – one of the reason’s he loves it – so I’ll be stitching that in as soon as my order arrives.
I am pretty pleased that I was able to look at a knit object, read the stitches, write up a pattern, and achieve a very similar fit. I have another skein to make Version 2 and I’ll make the following changes. All of these changes are reflected in the pattern above.
Use a smaller needle for 1×1 rib. I used US 6 in Version 1 and it looks too loose.
Add in the 5 rounds that were omitted in Version 1 (3 in the 1×1 rib, and 2 in the body). These rows were omitted because I miss-measured while knitting.
Pull the 9 stitches at the top of the hat together tighter. After blocking, the opening relaxed a bit.
In 2017 I tried making a Misha & Puff style popcorn sweater. I had ordered a We Are Knitters kit (no longer available), even though I hated the color options, and gave it a shot. It went fine, but I made a teeny tiny error, didn’t have any idea of how to fix it, and gave up.
This is as far as that sweater got. The construction was not great (flat, seamed, no neckline shaping), and in hindsight I’m glad I stopped the project here.
Well after a year of knitting sweaters, I finally have a M&P style sweater, in a much better color too!
Even with six sweaters under my belt, I signed up for this lovely 4 week Wildcraft class with the pattern designer of the Louise Pullover. Short rows were, for some reason, deeply confusing to me and I thought some in person coaching would help. It was a great 4 weeks and I now feel like I can knit anything.
I practiced wrap and turns a lot before deciding to use German short rows instead. My wrap and turns were quite holey and the process felt a little more complex than German short rows. After completing the neckline shaping, I wanted to practice again while it was still fresh and started a second sweater. I don’t love the color of that yarn though, so we’ll see if it get used.
After knitting to a size 3, I decided to go up to a 4 for a more oversized fit.
I also decided to crop the sweater by 3″.
I decided not to use a smaller needle size for the neckline ribbing because I was using a worsted weight yarn instead of DK, and I knit pretty tightly. I wish I had though because after blocking, all of the ribbing stretched out a lot, especially the waistline. Knitting is some unpredictable magic.
I started this sweater on November 9th and finished it December 10th. I’m so fucking proud of it!
I love this sweater and I’m still kinda shocked that I made it.
This is the Lodge pattern by Ozetta. The yarn is Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in the color “Woodsmoke.” It’s very similar to my first worsted weight sweater, but this one I knit English style and my gauge is much more consistent.
I cast on on a flight home and had nearly half the body knit by the end of the trip. I only brought two cakes with me, so I had to stop working on it near the sleeve split.
Once I was reunited with the rest of the yarn, knitting the front and back panels went quickly. I was able to seam the shoulders together without throwing in lifelines, which felt like a huge accomplishment!
Visualizing knitting instructions has been the best way for me to learn. I wish more patterns included visuals, or even just more descriptions. It really does feel like learning a language. Ozetta is really good at responding to Instagram DMs though!
The I-cord cast off took a REALLY long time.
The slipt hem ribbing is so nice. The pattern’s sample photos really hide this detail and I was surprised and delighted to see them take shape.
I learned so fricking much knitting this. I learned how to shape a neckline on a bottom up sweater, the kitchener stitch, how to pick up stitches, how to create a folded neck with a stretchy BO, math to adjust for row gauge, K2tog-L for sleeve decreases, the sewn tubular cast-off technique, and how measure and block a sweater. SO COOL.
Shortly before starting this, I learned how to knit continental and decided I would knit the Towns entirely in this style. I should have realized during the hem ribbing that my purls were much looser than my knit stitches, but I pushed through, hoping that magical blocking would smooth things out (that only sorta worked). Things got weird once I was knitting flat and there’s definite striping above where I split for the sleeves.
Joining the shoulders was where things got real spicy. I messed up both shoulders. The first one had what looked like only a small imperfection but I couldn’t leave it alone and once I snugged everything up, it turned into a giant, loopy knot. The second shoulder had a section where I slipped the stitches the wrong direction. It took going to a LYS to learn how to fix this mistake. I also bought some super thin cording to use as lifelines, which I throw in all the time now.
The neckline BO was a mind bender. It took a while to figure out how to hold everything and there’s a sliiiiiiight twist, but not enough to impact the wear.
My row gauge is always off, so the first sleeve I made was much too long. Thanks to math, I was able to figure out how many rounds I needed to remove to get the sleeve to be the right length. It was so exciting when it worked, but I did need to knit three whole sleeves to figure it out.
Despite having purchased skeins from the same dye lot, there’s a clear color difference between them. I feel like it’s less noticeable when it’s worn, but is super obvious when laid flat.
Despite its flaws, I am so pleased with this sweater! It’s going to get a lot of wear once it cools down.
Ooof this sweater. I had 3, or 4 false starts with this one and ironically the first try was when I was feeling super confident. Things were clicking – I’d memorized how to do M1Rs and Ls, I was getting faster, I was feeling accomplished… and then when it was time to try it on, I’d produced a sweater for ants. It was so small. My tight knitting was no match for this stable yarn.
After unraveling it again and starting another project, I learned how to loosen up and make a less dense fabric. I took a little break from it too.
Once I had my tension down, it knit up as quickly as other projects, but this was the first time I was forced to play yarn chicken.
After completing the body, I only had two skeins left. I didn’t love the instructed waistline, but I also didn’t hate it, so I decided to knit up the sleeves and if I had enough leftover, I planned to rip out the purlwise bind off and redo it with a couple rows of ribbing.
I did not have enough leftover and I had to shorten the sleeves by an inch too. So the waistline is what it is. I really love the texture on the yokes and upper sleeves and this yarn is super soft and somehow not as insulating as the other bulky yarns I’ve been using. I can wear it without overheating! Another thing I learned with this yarn is that its core is pretty untouched by the dye, so joining/felting ends together didn’t work out great. Because of this, there are some light stitches on the back (thankfully). The joins didn’t look that bad in nighttime lighting but they sure are focal points in daylight. Next time I use a yarn that doesn’t felt together nicely, I’ll add new yarn and weave in an end.
I feel like this sweater really flew off my needles; it took a little over a week to complete. I’m more confidently fixing mistakes and I’ve got the magic loop technique down now too.
This yarn is so pretty, but holy hell does it shed. It’s on everything I own and it’s made its way into my mouth on more than one occasion. But it’s significantly thinner than the other bulky yarns I’ve been using and I really appreciate the drape of the final fabric.
The yarn is Loopy Mango’s Mohair So Soft in tiramisu, purchased from Close Knit. I made the size XS/S and used a little over 6 skeins. My current bust measurement is 38″ and the finished measurement for this size is 42″.
I followed the directions for the purling rows, but I’m a little unsure about the first row being so much closer than the others. If I make another, I’d probably space them out the same number of rows, or omit the fist one all together. The instructions say to hold two strands together for the neckline, but I totally didn’t read that part. Hoping it doesn’t stretch out too much with wear. Whoops.
This is the first project I actually knit a gauge swatch for, but I was too impatient to block said swatch. Whatever! It measured what it was supposed to and my knitting has loosened up! Have I blocked this garment yet? Nope. It went straight on my body. How am I supposed to wait?!
In the middle of making this sweater, I learned how to knit continental, which I thought I would hate, but I love it! The instructor in this Domestika class demoed continental in a way that my brain understood, so I thought I’d just try it. I can see how continental could speed up my knitting. Even though I think I prefer continental, I decided to finished knitting my Kelowna sweater English style to keep everything consistent and I need to finish the Trefann this way too (above).
I’m really proud of this make. It’s made me feel like I understand knitting. And because of that, I made a test swatch for the Louise Pullover!
After years of being mad at knitting, I’m feeling pretty great with these last few projects. And I might even try more complicated patterns soon. I’m looking at you, bobble sweater and fancy cardigan.
I’m still figuring out how to loosen up and “get gauge.” I knit very tightly because my brain tricks me into thinking that’s the “correct way” to do it and that there will be huge holes if I don’t. No clue where these ideas came from.
At this stage I did question the fit, but I had enough room at the underarms and decided to keep going. This sweater is probably smaller than it should be, but I actually like the way it ended up fitting.
The sleeves are a bit shorter than the pattern called for, but it’s so warm, I kind of appreciate some of my arms being exposed.
I don’t love the way the neckline collapses under my chin. I probably should have done fewer rows, but I think this is also just how it goes without any shaping. I’m intrigued by those German short rows I’ve read about. And looking at the sample photos, my neckline is definitely knit tighter so, whoops!
