What is steeking?

If you hang around knitters long enough you may hear this term thrown around, often referred to with some trepidation.

But put simply, a steek is just the process of securing the cut edge of a knitted fabric. This allows the knitted fabric to be worked in the round and cut open without the ends unravelling.

I’ve been curious about this technique for a while and always watch with interest when my favourite YouTubers describe their experiences.

So, when Amirisu Issue 18 dropped in 2019 there was one piece in particular that caught my eye - the Tiger Lily shawl, a triangular colourwork shawl knit completely in the round and steeked!

Here’s my first-hand experience working a steeked shawl!

Enjoy!

Andrea - Loom & Spindle

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STUDIO PROJECT: Tiger Lily

INTENTION

Knit the Tiger Lily shawl and explore:

• Working with Loch Lomond GOTS

• Working a triangular shawl in the round using steeking stitches

DESIGN

The Tiger Lily shawl pattern was designed by Amirisu Magazine, first published in Amirisu Issue 18: Summer 2019. It’s currently available to purchase as a digital download at Ravelry.com.

SKILLS

Casting on
Knitting in the round
Decreasing stitches
Reading colourwork charts
Two colour colourwork
Steeking

TOOLS

4mm (US 6) and 4.5mm (US 7) circular needles.
I used Chiaogoo Spin Bamboo Interchangables.

MATERIALS

4 x Loch Lomond GOTS | Silver (06)
2 x Loch Lomond GOTS | Graphite (15)
1 x Loch Lomond GOTS | Schwarz (05)

*Tiger Lily yarn kits available HERE.

PROCESS

YARN SELECTION

• The designer uses two colours of similar hue for the main chart, swapping in a high contrast colour for the smaller charts B and C.

• Colourwork detail can occasionally be lost when adjacent colours are too similar. But I felt the designer had intentionally made this decision for Chart A , the similar hues creating a unique visual texture that adds to the rustic appeal of the piece.

• With the designer’s colour-play in mind I experimented with a few different palettes. I used Loch Lomond Bio as I felt this yarn would be well suited to recreating the look and feel of the original piece.

• I thought it would be fun to try a reverse palette of sorts and settled on a grey scale with two shades of light grey and a black for a dark contrast.

CONSTRUCTION

• Working from the widest side of the triangle to the apex, the shawl began with a cast-on edge of around 300 stitches. This sounded daunting but using a long tail cast-on and counting stitches in groups of 50 as I went, it didn’t require too much effort.

  I used a needle larger than the pattern required for the cast-on edge. This was so I could make the stitches firm and even and provide the required ease for the selvedge stitches.

• Following the pattern, the piece was joined in the round with steeking stitches added between beginning and end of row markers. This set-up is detailed in the pattern if you haven’t used this technique before.

• At the beginning and end of each row I caught the non-working yarn in the edge stitches to secure both yarns and avoid any long floats at these points.

• The colourwork charts are quite detailed and require some focus, particularly chart A with its wide repeat.

• I worked the shawl as written.

FINISHING

• I cut open the steek. Before unravelling the steek edges I blocked the shawl by giving it a short soak in a bath of cool water with a drop of wool wash. Pinning it out on a blocking matt, I gave attention to shaping the shawl and aligning the colourwork stitches.

• To create the fringing, I unravelled the steek stitches and ironed the ends to remove the kinks. I tied off the ends in groups of four, ironing them flat again to align anything that was askew. I carefully cut the fringing to a 2.5cm (1'') length.

Once dry the gauge measured at: 

• 22 stitches over 10cm (4'')

• 28 rows over 10cm (4'')

• Wingspan, 153cm (60’’)

• The finished shawl weighed in at 256g (9oz)

INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

YARN

• What can I say? I just love this toothy tweedy yarn. Loch Lomond GOTS is built for colourwork and it certainly didn’t disappoint in this piece.

• On soaking, the yarn bloomed to produce a light and woolly fabric.

• The vast amount of colourwork creates almost a double layer of fabric, the resulting shawl feeling like a warm hug around the shoulders.

CONSTRUCTION

• Using steeking stitches for a triangular shawl was quite unique but easy to set up and work.

• Decreasing on every row and seeing the project shrink as you reach the apex was certainly satisfying.

FINISHING

• Cutting open the steek to reveal the true shape and size of the shawl (and all my hard work) was certainly satisfying.

• I was delighted with the fringe. I’m glad I took the time to iron and uncurl the ends to get that perfect straight edge.

• Blocking revealed a slightly larger wingspan than the pattern intended. But all for the better as it sits perfectly on my shoulders without having to forever readjust it. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, this is a great design that worked up quickly.

I love the texture that the yarn and colourwork create.

Steeking is definitely a method I’ll incorporate into future projects.

I’ve been wearing this shawl all winter and heading into spring it won’t be leaving the wardrobe rotation any time soon!

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THANK YOU FOR READING!

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Add it to your Ravelry favourites HERE.

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Like to knit Tiger Lily in Loch Lomond GOTS?

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“Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors.”

— African Proverb

As a textile maker I love the challenge of a new project - learning about a new yarn or fibre, tackling a new construction method or perhaps just practicing a not so familiar technique.

With its irresistibly cute sailor collar and classic red on white colourwork detail, Junko Okamoto’s Child and Mam children’s sweater embodied all three of these challenges for me.

Knit in BC Garn’s Bio Shetland, a new yarn for me, I detail below my experience knitting two-colour colourwork and working a sailor collar in the knitted fabric.

Enjoy!

Andrea - Loom & Spindle

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PROJECT: Child and Mam

INTENTION

Knit the Child and Mam sweater and explore:

• Working with a Shetland style yarn

• Working two-colour colourwork flat

• Sailor collar construction in the knitted fabric

SKILLS

• Casting on and off

• Knitting flat and in the round

• Reading colourwork charts

• Increasing and decreasing

• Short row shaping

• Two-colour colourwork worked flat

TOOLS

• Knitting needles – 3.25 mm (US 3) and 3.75 mm (US 5) circular needles.
  I used Chiaogoo Spin Bamboo Interchangables.

MATERIALS

WAITLIST

Quick View

Bio Shetland GOTS | Sheep White (40)

WAITLIST

Quick View

Bio Shetland GOTS | Cherry (35)

PATTERN

The Child and Mam (Child) pattern was published by Junko Okamoto in September 2015 and is available for free download at Ravelry.

Pattern available for sizes 3, 4 and 5 years old.

I knit a size 4, finished chest circumference 102.5cm (40.3’’)

PROCESS

YARN SELECTION

• The red on white styling of Junko’s original version is what really drew me to this project.

• To recreate the look with one of our shop yarns I sampled BC Garn’s Bio Shetland, a rustic Shetland style yarn built for colourwork.

• I used the colourways Sheep White, a lightly heathered natural shade, and the eye-popping Cherry Red. 

COLOURWORK

• Having swatched to determine gauge and needle size, I began the project as the pattern directs and worked the collar using the two contrasting colours.

• Working the colourwork flat, I paid close attention to maintaining an even tension particularly when working the purl-side of the fabric, and neatly interlocked the two contrasting yarns at the edge of the patterned area.

• The chart was clear, but I did trip up on the chevron pattern where the centre section has five rows and the outer sections have four. Having missed that fifth row I quickly realised my mistake when the following row was misaligned, I was able to rip back and correct it without issue.

CONSTRUCTION

• The pattern was knit top-down in one piece combining elements that were either worked flat or in-the-round.

• I did find it hard to visualise how the collar and neck shaping would come together. I put my faith in the pattern and continued working as the pattern directed.

• Junko details some clever short row shaping for the left and right sides of the neck. These two elements eventually join at the front with an overlap of fabric, a nice detail.

• More short row shaping raised the back neck for a comfortable fit.

• I must admit that I didn’t tackle the Japanese short rows as suggested, instead I used the wrap-and-turn technique achieving the same outcome. I’ll have to investigate this new technique for next time.

• Knitting the remainder of the garment was quite straight forward and came together without problem.

FINISHING

To finish, the sweater was immersed in a bath of cool water for around 10 minutes, the water was drained, and the sweater pressed between towels to remove the excess. The piece was pinned out on a blocking matt, attention given to shaping the sweater and aligning the colourwork.

Once dry the gauge measured at: 

• 20 stitches over 10cm (4'')

• 32 rows over 10cm (4'')

• Chest circumference, 102.5cm (40.3’’) 

Total meterage:

• Approx. 313m (342y).

• The finished garment weighed just 95g (3.35oz)!

INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Yarn

• Bio Shetland is a toothy yarn perfect for colourwork.

• It produced a light and airy fabric with a rustic hand-feel.

• The subtle grey heather in the natural shade gives the garment a rustic character.

• Though Bio Shetland is a lighter yarn than what was originally used in the pattern I had no trouble achieving gauge.

Colourwork

• The colourwork chart was clear and easy to follow.

• The classic red on white palette definitely makes this a standout piece.

• The colourwork is limited to the collar section making it a great first colourwork project.

Construction

• The short row shaping was really interesting and not something I’d tried before for a collar construction.

• It definitely helped that I was already familiar with the short-row technique, I wouldn’t say it was impossible if you’re giving it a go for the first time.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, this is a great design that worked up relatively quickly.

The yarn was great on yardage, the final count coming in under what the pattern suggested.

I love the sailor collar, such a unique design element. It would be perfect for any little sailors in your life.

And if you were thinking you’d like one too, Junko also has an adult version. And yes, it’s FREE. Thanks, Junko!

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THANK YOU FOR READING!

Would you like to save this project for later?

Add it to your Ravelry favourites HERE.

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Knitting Child and Mam (Child) in Bio Shetland?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Size 3 years - MC: 2 skeins, CC: 1 Skein

• Size 4 years - MC: 2 skeins, CC: 1 Skein

• Size 5 years - MC: 3 skeins, CC: 1 Skein

WAITLIST

Yarn Kit | Child and Mam

from $35.70

Size:

Select Size 3 - 4 years5 Years

3 - 4 years 5 Years

Kit Colour:

Select Kit Colour White/RedGreen/WhiteBlue/White

White/Red Green/White Blue/White

Add To Cart

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I often find it difficult to decide what to spin next, often overwhelmed by the many project variables – colour, fibre, plies and ultimately what to knit/weave/crochet…

Gradually I’ve realised that I just need to get the process started by making one key decision.

For a while I’ve wanted to spin for a shawl project and drawn in by the intense colour-play of the Nightshift shawl I knew it was time to commit.

I’ve detailed below how making this one decision had a positive cascading effect on the direction of the project, from how I selected the fibre and determined colour, to how I would spin the yarn and knit the shawl.

I hope you enjoy this exploration in fibre, colour and yarn, and maybe even inspire your next spin!

Andrea - Loom & Spindle

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PROJECT: A Hand Spun Nightshift Shawl

INTENTION

Hand spin yarn for a Nightshift shawl and explore:

• Fibre selection and colour placement

• Colour effects in the hand spun yarn

• The resulting fabric and hand-feel

SKILLS

• Hand spinning a two-ply worsted/10ply weight yarn

• Knitted shawl construction

TOOLS

• Spinning wheel - Louët S17 Spinning Wheel

• Knitting needles - 5mm (US 8) circular needles (I used Chiaogoo Spin Bamboo Interchangables)

MATERIALS

From my stash:

• 50g, 21 micron Merino (yellow). Hand dyed by Created by Elsie B

• 250g, 26 micron Warooka Station Merino x White Suffolk. Hand dyed by Shepherdess (no longer trading).

PATTERN

The Nightshift shawl pattern was published by Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits in October 2018. It is available for purchase on Ravelry or dreareneeknits.com.

PROCESS

FIBRE SELECTION

• Spinning for a shawl project, my prerequisite when choosing fibre was for something that had a next-to-skin softness. Colour-play was also going to be a big part of this project, so I narrowed the fibre selection down further to just hand-dyed braids with interesting colour repeats.

• Working from my stash, I pulled out hand dyed braids in Merino and similar fibres and started grouping compatible colourways.

•  I settled on a braid of Merino and several braids of a Merino X Suffolk fibre, approximately 300g in total. I had previously sampled the Merino X Suffolk. The resulting yarn was soft and bouncy similar in characteristic to Merino.

• Featuring heavily saturated shades of yellow, orange, red, purple and green, the resulting palette was definitely out of my comfort zone. Though, I considered the colour intensity and saturation of each shade would correspond well to the design elements of the Nightshift pattern.

THE SPIN

• The intention was to spin six, 2-ply yarns at a worsted/10ply weight to get a knitted gauge similar to what was specified in the pattern.

• To prep the fibre I broke the fibre down into six 50g lots, carefully distributing colours to ensure I would end up with six colour differentiated yarns:

  • Yellow

  • Orange/Red

  • Red/Grey

  • Red/Purple

  • Green/Purple

  • Green

• Then for my two plies I studied the colouring in each bundle and split each into two portions keeping the colour evenly distributed.

• For each colour bundle I spun one of the portions from the tip making the first ply. For the second ply I stripped down the remaining portions so the colours would repeat more frequently.

• Each ply was spun in the Z direction at approximately 28-30 WPI, then plied together in the S direction to create a 2-ply yarn.

• Each yarn was finished with a short soak in cool water, pressed in a towel to remove the excess and then hung to dry.

KNITTING

• I knit a mini swatch on 5mm needles. I was happy with the resulting fabric. I didn’t fuss about gauge as the pattern was quite modular and could be made larger or smaller if needed.

• The pattern was worked as written using Mowry’s suggested colour changes, with the exception of one colour repeat towards the end where I knit 10 extra rows.

• My colours correspond to the pattern colours as follows:

  • Colour A – Green

  • Colour B – Green/Purple

  • Colour C – Yellow

  • Colour D – Orange/Red

  • Colour E – Red/Purple

  • Colour F – Red/Grey

  • Bound off in C and D.

FINISHING

To finish, the shawl was immersed in a bath of cool water for around 10 minutes, the water was drained, and the shawl pressed between towels to remove the excess. The piece was pinned out on a blocking matt, attention given to the triangular shaping of the shawl.

Once dry the gauge measured at: 

• 20 stitches over 10cm (4'')

• 28 rows over 10cm (4'')

 Total yardage:

• I’m not really sure as I didn’t do any strict yardage calculations before I started. Though, think I have enough left over to make a beanie!

Final measurements:

• Wingspan - 65”/165 cm 

• Centre Depth - 31”/79 cm

INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

FIBRE AND COLOUR SELECTION

• The Nightshift was such a great stash buster, I was truly in my happy place mixing and matching fibres for this project.

• I was immediately drawn to the warm saturated shades of some of my most treasured braids, I was delighted when the final palette came together.

THE SPIN

• The worsted weight yarn spun up very quickly, I had everything spun up in under a month!

• I felt that it was important to complete all the spinning before I started knitting for this project in order to determine colour placement within the knitted shawl. 

FABRIC AND HANDFEEL

• I certainly wasn’t disappointed by the merino and Merino X fibres. They made for bouncy squishy yarns and a light and lofty shawl.

• From far away you could easily say it’s just a colour block shawl, but with Mowry’s clever repeating mosaic stitch pattern the resulting fabric is a kaleidoscope of colour with subtle gradients over every row that I could study for hours.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• There’s good reason why this pattern has 3800+ projects on Ravelry. The colour-play is highly engaging, and the piece works up quickly as you’re always itching to get to the next colour section.

• The modular stitch repeat makes for a forgiving pattern, handy when yardage or gauge is not always spot on.

• The colour shifting characteristics of hand-spun yarn make it the perfect substitution for the patterns suggested yarn.

• Knitting with your hand spun yarn and feeling every bump and seeing every colour change is so satisfying. I would highly recommend all skill levels giving it!

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THANK YOU FOR READING!

Would you like to save this project for later? Add it to your Ravelry favourites HERE.

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Upon its release last year we were instantly drawn to Andrea Mowry’s The Throwback - a top-down knit cardigan with cool retro-inspired colourwork detail around the yoke.

We thought the unique woolly texture and warming heathered shades of Loch Lomond GOTS would be a perfect match, so we got swatching. 

Translating and working Mowry’s design into a swatch was easy enough until we hit the three-colour colourwork... worked flat!

Though we had some initial hesitation, we were up for the challenge.

We’ve detailed our swatch notes below, including a little trick we found for controlling that third unruly yarn.

Enjoy!

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PROJECT

Swatching The Throwback by Andrea Mowry in Loch Lomond GOTS by BC Garn

AIM

To explore:

• The fabric’s hand-feel at the resulting gauge

• The suitability of Loch Lomond GOTS for colourwork, and

• A method for working three-colour colourwork

SKILLS

• Casting on

• Casting off

• Knitting flat

• Reading charts for colourwork

• Familiarity with different knitting styles:

  • Continental (yarn held in left hand)

  • English (yarn held in right hand)

TOOLS

• 4 mm (US 6) circular needles (we used Chiaogoo Spin Bamboo Interchangeables)

MATERIALS

WAITLIST

Colour A, Moss

WAITLIST

Colour B, Beige

WAITLIST

Colour C, Curry

WAITLIST

Colour D, Fire Red

PATTERN

The swatch is for The Throwback sweater pattern published by Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits. This pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry or at dreareneeknits.com.

The pattern provides a gauge of 18.5 stitches and 26 rows over 10cm (4'').

PROCESS

THE DESIGN

Casting on 38 stitches, we started with a base of 4x4 rib running into stocking stitch to test Loch Lomond GOTS in the knitted fabric.

The colourwork chart was incorporated to explore the relationship between the yoke detail and chosen colour palette.

THE SWATCH

We tried a few different needle sizes on some pre-swatch swatches. We found a satisfactory fabric was obtained on 4mm (US 6) needles, with a resulting 5 stitches per inch pre-blocking.

For the colourwork component we began by working the two-colour sections with one yarn held in each hand and catching the floats behind the work at regular intervals.

Having had some experience working the yarn from both the left and right hands, this method was quite comfortable for us and we had no trouble working either the knit or purl sides of the fabric.

THE THREE-COLOUR SECTION

Applying our colourwork method to the three-colour sections proved more challenging.

When working with a third yarn (in either hand) we found it difficult to maintain tension, catch floats evenly across the back (particularly on the purl side) and avoid disastrous tangles between the three strands.

After a few attempts at using various stranding techniques and re-organising our yarns we settled on a method that simply removed the problem!

Our solution… working only two colours across the row and slipping the stitch that required the third colour. The row was then worked again, slipping the previously worked stitches and only knitting the stitches required to complete the three-colour sequence.

This simplified working the purl-side, as the colour pattern was already established from working the knit-side and could simply be repeated – purling with two colours across the row, then working the row again with the third.

Given only six rows of the chart are worked in three-colours we found this to be a quick and easy solution.

View fullsize

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FINISHING

The swatch was soaked in a bath of cool water for around 5 minutes, the excess water pressed out using a towel. The swatch was pinned out on a blocking matt, attention given to aligning the stitches and smoothing out the colourwork.

The final measurements:

• Overall dimensions, 18cm x 20cm (7'' x 8'')

• Gauge, 20 stitches and 24 rows over 10cm (4'')

INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

GAUGE

Though we didn’t quite reach the pattern’s gauge, our measurements indicate that this yarn would be a viable option for The Throwback. A quick calculation tells us that we would only need to go up one size to accommodate the variance.

Here’s what we did (using inches for simplicity):

Our size - Size 3, Bust 43''
Our gauge - 5 stitches over 1''

Number of stitches required for our size:

43 (bust size) * 5 (our gauge) = 215 stitches (around the bust)

At Size 3 (bust 43'') and the pattern gauge of 4.6 stitches over 1'', we would have too few stitches:

43 (bust size) * 4.6 (pattern gauge) = 198 stitches (around the bust)

198 (no. stitches at Size 3) / 5 (our gauge) = 39.6'' Bust

At Size 4 (bust 47'') and a pattern gauge of 4.6 stitches over 1'', we get a close match:

47 (bust size) * 4.6 (pattern gauge) = 216 stitches (around the bust)

216 (no. stitches at Size 4) / 5 (our gauge) = 43.2''

Therefore, our corresponding size with the required stitch count is Size 4!

FABRIC

Loch Lomond GOTS bloomed to produce a smooth and homogenous fabric with well-defined colourwork detail.

The woolly texture and tweedy appearance make for a wonderfully rustic hand-feel that is both light and warm to the touch.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This little swatch was an experiment that quickly became a great lesson in working three-colour colourwork.

The colourwork method we used was particularly suited to this project given the piece is worked flat with the three colour sections only occurring over six rows.

Ultimately, giving ourselves the space to explore and experiment via swatching took away any initial apprehension we had and gave us the confidence to tackle the larger project in the future.

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THANK YOU FOR READING!

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A Spring Project

Heading into Spring we’re enjoying the warming weather. Though, with crisp mornings and cool evenings we’re still seeking out layering pieces to transition the day.

The Woodwardia pullover by Lydia Gluck (co-founder & editor of Pom Pom Quarterly) is the perfect spring staple. With its relaxed fit and understated silhouette, it offers both comfort and warmth all with a lightness in hand.

We recently added this piece to our spring wardrobe, having worked it up in Hamelton No. 1 by BC Garn. With its top-down in-the-round construction and botanical design details it was an enjoyably simple knit.

Below, we take a closer look at some of the finer details of Woodwardia and review Hamelton No. 1.

Enjoy!

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PROJECT

Knitting Woodwardia By Lydia Gluck in Hamelton No. 1 by BC Garn

AIM

Knit the Woodwardia pullover to explore:

• Top-down, in-the-round construction

• Knitting with Hamelton No. 1, its suitability and yarn characteristics, and

• The resulting fabric and hand-feel

SKILLS

• Knitting in the round

• Simple increases and decreases

• Casting off in pattern

• Wet blocking

TOOLS

• Body: 4.5mm (US 7) circular needles (we used Chiaogoo Spin Bamboo Interchangables)

• Ribbing: 4mm (US 6) circular needles (we used Chiaogoo Spin Bamboo Interchangables)

MATERIALS

Hamilton No. 1 by BC Garn
Colourway BABY PINK (112)

PATTERN

The Woodwardia pullover pattern by Lydia Gluck was first published in Pom Pom Quarterly, Issue 28: Spring 2019 and subsequently in Ready Set Raglan in 2020. It is available to purchase HERE, on RAVELRY or the POM POM website.

Process

The pattern was worked as written with one design modification to the neckline.

SIZE

We knit a size 3 for a finished bust circumference of 120cm (47.25'') – to be worn with 20cm (8'') positive ease.

SETUP

We knit the pattern as written for the body and sleeves and modified the neckline.

MODIFICATIONS

As the Australian spring can be relatively temperate we thought the rolled neck collar might be a bit too warm for our climate.

We opted for crew-neck style neckline. The modification was simple, we followed the instructions for the collar as written and cast-off in pattern after 9 rows of ribbing was complete.

Adding short rows to the back neck was briefly considered. However, having tried on the pullover before the neckband was started it was deemed unnecessary as the neckline was quite generous and sat evenly around the shoulders.

FINISHING

To finish, the garment was immersed in a bath of cool water for around 10 minutes, the water was drained and the pullover pressed in a towel to remove the excess. The piece was pinned out on a blocking matt, attention given to shaping the jumper to the dimensions provided in the pattern and aligning the stitches.

Once dry the gauge measured at:

• 18 stitches over 10cm (4'')

• 28 rows over 10cm (4'')

 The total yarn used:

• 482g (17oz) / approx. 964m (1054y), or

• 10 balls Hamelton No. 1

INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

CONSTRUCTION

Being comfortable reading knitting patterns, we found the top-down in-the-round construction easy to follow. And, being familiar with the pattern skills, the garment was straightforward to knit. The purl stitch detail on the raglan sleeves was intuitive and easy to remember.

Though the styling was simple, the design included some smart design elements for a relaxed and comfortable fit – lots of positive ease, a longer back hem and generous neckline.

Knit in a worsted weight yarn and with some dedication to the project the pullover worked up quickly.

THE PULLOVER

Using Hamelton No. 1 and the needle sizes suggested, we were able to achieve the gauge specified. The measurements of the finished garment matched those stated in the pattern. Yes!

Our modification - the crew neckline, sits flat and evenly around the shoulders. 

We came in just under 500g to complete the project. The resulting pullover is lightweight and warm, and we can confirm very wearable throughout the day!

THE FABRIC

We love the look of Hamelton No 1 in the knitted fabric. The worsted 2-ply construction results in a somewhat textured surface, reminiscent of handspun yarn in hand-feel and appearance.

The slight lustre of the yarn remains bright in the fabric. We have experienced some pilling on the elbows, but this can be expected on a worsted spun 2-ply yarn with moderate twist. We think after a few brushes this will settle, making for a hard-wearing sweater.

Our tester did note a slight pique to the yarn. Though wearable against the skin, they did prefer to wear a long sleeve garment under this yarn.

FINAL THOUGHTS 

For those new to knitting garments, the Woodwardia pullover would make a great introduction to top-down in-the-round construction.

The skills required, and the layout of the pattern would be approachable for those interested in extending their knitting skills.

Hamelton No. 1 produced a light yet warm fabric with interesting surface texture.

The piece itself is extremely wearable with lots of positive ease for layering-up on those spring days that start cool, and warm as the day progresses.

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THANK YOU FOR READING!

Would you like to save this project for later? Add it to your Ravelry favourites HERE.

Knitting Woodwardia? You’ll need a worsted / 10 ply weight yarn with the following meterage:

• Size 1  - 730m

• Size 2 - 845m

• Size 3 - 940m

• Size 4 - 1035m

• Size 5 - 1130m

• Size 6 - 1225m

• Size 7 - 1345m

• Size 8 - 1500m

• Size 9 - 1590m

• Size 10 - 1720m

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