Oolong knits

We are going to finish this sweater! And this is the last post on this series. I am so excited. All that is left to do is work the collar. Of course, you will have quite a few ends to weave in, but those will be easy because most of them will be at the seams (just weave them through the seams). And you may want to block your sweater before using it. OK, but let us not get ahead of ourselves, we must first work the collar. Before we start, a short explanation. The central double decrease (also known as straight decrease) is worked in three stitches, the stitch before the marked stitch, the marked stitch and the stitch after. Knit to one stitch before the marked stitch (do not knit these stitches), slip the two stitches together knitwise, knit the next stitch, pass the two slipped stitches over the knit stitch. A warning: I messed up Jenny's stretchy bind-off on this sweater. What I did was working it on the wrong side, because I thought the bind-off was reversible. It is not. ...

It has been a while since we have seen stripes on my candy. And I love stripes. The Balise cardigan by Marie Greene is a recently published pattern that caught my attention. Fairly simple idea, but such a lovely result, the cropped cut gives it a bit of a vintage look. But most knitters prefer to add a bit of height to it, making it a wonderful basic piece.

Sleeves The two sleeves are worked identically. We begin by picking up and knitting stitches from the armholes and then joining them in the round with the live stitches from the saddles. This is by far the trickiest part of working this sweater. After that we shape the shoulder section using short rows. I prefer using German short rows and use the abbreviation "gsr" for the special German short row stitch treatment, which includes turning the work. If using the wrap-and-turn method replace "gsr" with "wrap and turn". Note that "knit/purl this stitch" should then be interpreted as lift and hide the wrap by knitting/purling it together with the stitch. Once the shoulder is finished there is a long section where the sleeve is gradually tapered and then a short section of straight knitting that ends with a 1x1 rib for the cuff. Pick-up and knit 18 stitches from one of the sides. Pick up and knit 3 stitches from the underarm cast-on, place 1...

Chainlink by Norah Gaughan, designer extraordinary. A very modern design: an unusual and original geometric shape, plus cables, eyelets and rib. Could have been excessive, but is just the opposite. Genius! This was published by Brooklyn Tweed. Do I need to mention that anything published by BT is absolutely gorgeous eye-candy? The reason my eye-candy does not exclusively consist of BT patterns is that my aim is to compile patterns that are not already compiled (namely on brooklyntweed.com ).

Do not worry I am going to finish the sweater! But I am already thinking of what I am to knit next. And I have come up with a project that I find really exciting, because, one, it is very, very easy, two, it involves a bunch of new techniques that I have never used before. And, of course, all of these techniques are also very easy to learn, otherwise the project would not be easy, right? The project is a pair of socks. Nothing better than a small project like socks to learn a new technique (or several). Here is the list of techniques we will learn: Pinhole (aka Emily Ocker's) cast-on, the best cast-on to start knitting from a centre point. Star toe, easier than the standard toe, and promising a great fit. Spiral ribbing knitting, which is a very old technique that allows to knit heelless socks (which means we will not be learning a new technique for heels, but that is what makes this project so easy). Helix knitting, a clever way of obtaining jogless stripes. Unfortuna...

All of Jennifer Steingass designs (we have featured another one here not so long ago) are sweaters with seamless yoke and stranded-knitting colour work. They are all amazing, but Vintersol , her latest design, is in my opinion the most achieved.

Body Join back and front (row 32): at the end of row 31 of front, cast-on 6 st using knitted-CO, knit back stitches, cast-on 6 st using knitted-CO, knit front stitches. 140 st. Knit straight, in the round, until piece measures 33cm from underarm. Except for the following optional improvements: Row 33, if the direction of your knitting is forcing you to purl every st, at the end of back, turn work, using German short-rows, in order to change knit direction; false seam: mark the stitch in the middle of each underarm and slip it on alternate rows; Using a central double decrease, decrease 2 stitches around the aforementioned marked stitches, 5, 15 and 25 cm from the underarm. 136, 132, 128 st total (always do this after a row where the central st was knitted, not slipped, if you are working a false seam); work 2 short rows in the back stitches, 10, 20 and 30 cm from the underarm (if you are working a false seam, always do this after a row where the central st was knitted, not slip...

Another amazing stranded-knitting pattern by Rachel Søgaard: Stjernedrys . Just do not ask me how to pronounce it! Color Splash by Heidemarie Kaiser is another sweater that uses a similar stranded-knitting motif to that of Stjernedrys.