Transport Pullover

January 2015

I was in the middle of an adult sized single colour stocking stitch sweater when I signed up for this test knit, desperate to tackle something with a little bit more interest. One day I will go back to making something for George which doesn't have vehicles of some kind on it, I'm sure, but at the moment, of all the patterns I show him he does seem to favour this sort of thing. He has his eye on this one next.

This pattern was written for 4-ply weight yarn, and the largest size was 2 years. I though my little boy would love it, though, and so I offered to test it on the basis that if I used dk weight yarn, and made 6 month old size I would be working at a much looser gauge than the pattern was written for, I end up with something that fits a 3 - 4 year old.

My gauge was 24 sts to 10cm, and my schematic:

Length: 45cm
Chest: 66cm
Underarm seam: 26cm

The construction of this was really interesting. The body was knit back and forth to the underarm, and then sewn together to create a seam up the middle of the back. The arms were knitted separately and then joined with the body at the underarm, so that the yoke could be worked in one piece. For the most part the yoke was worked back and forth, allowing for one of the raglan seams to remain open and be fastened with buttons later. That made the colour work so much more straightforward, and it's a great help to have such a large neck opening when it comes to dressing and undressing.

I added an extra row of trains at the top of the yoke.

The main yarn was King Cole Moods Duet dk. The other colours were just scraps of various dk weight acrylics I had stashed.

Pattern: Transport Pullover by Pinar Ürün Sizun
Size: 3-4 years
Yarn: King Cole Moods Duet dk
Colours: Stonewash
Needle: 3.25mm
On ravelry: here

Dahlia

December 2014

I’m mildly disappointed with this, as it’s a really beautiful yarn and a really beautiful pattern, but the finished product just doesn’t seem to want to fit as one would hope it to, and so it’s less enjoyable to wear than the sum of its parts should make it.

You start with the lace panel, which is knitted from the middle out. Then, starting from the middle again, you make stocking stitch strips to frame it top and bottom, which when they are long enough, and joined to the live stitches from the side edges of the panel. You do a little clever tinkering after a few rows, to take account of where the sleeves will need to go, but then you just knit outwards until you have two panels wide enough to make the front of a cardigan. It’s very clever, and nothing like any other project I’ve tackled.

I tweaked the pattern as I went, adding a bit of length, and short row shaping to try to bring the two edges of the cardigan a little closer to meeting when hanging at an angle. I also followed uncials notes with regard to the sleeves, but even so I find this is a little wider across the shoulders than it really ought to be.

The trickiest part was the collar. Initially I followed the pattern as written, but that gave me a really wide collar which seemed to always be facing the wrong way. So I ran a steek along about 20 stitches in from the edge (where the knit turned to purl) and cut a strip off. I sewed a moss stitch edging along to try to tidy it up a little bit, but it’s rather prone to wrinkling

So all in all, this was a real pain to make wearable. I love that lace panel, but I’d think twice about making anything knitted sideways again.

Pattern: Dahlia Cardigan by Heather Zopetti rom Interweave Knits, Fall 2011
Size: Second
Yarn: Supreme Possum Merino Possum Merino with Silk 4-ply
Colours: Red-purple
Needle 3.25mm
On ravelry: here