My first stranded colorwork knit: the Bowfell jumper
One of my (untold) resolutions for 2021 was to learn stranded colorwork (also called Fair Isle) knitting. And even though it took me until December, I did it! Let me introduce you to my first ever (and definitely not my last) stranded colorwork knit: the Bowfell jumper by AlongAvecAnna.
Knitting colorwork: where to start?
Although I am pretty good at managing double strands, even when knitting lace, creating patterns with different colours is a completely different kettle of fish! I must admit I was a bit at a loss as to where to start initially.
My salvation was Anna Dervout’s excellent book: « Tricoter le jacquard en rond »:
Sadly for English speakers, this book is available only in French at this stage. But if you can read (even only a little bit of French, I strongly recommend you get it, as Anna highlights a number of important issues I was very pleased to be aware of before starting.
So after reading Anna’s book (several times!) and experimenting with three jumpers (this one is my first, the two others will hopefully follow on the blog), here is my advice to stranded colorwork beginners:
- Take plenty of time to chose your colours. I am always in a hurry to move to my next project but this is not a good idea here, as you need colours that you like and that will contrast enough so that the jacquard pattern is completely visible. Anna advises to use a colour wheel and either go for colours that are opposites on the wheel; or adjacent but with very different brightness. I am definitely more into the second option.
- Start with a pattern that only alternates two colours on the same row– understanding how to alternate colours in by no way intuitive, so two colours are far enough to start with! This is the case of Bowfell but its pattern is only available in French in the book; but Marieke is available in many langages and also fits the bill.
- Control your tension constantly. The hardest thing I find with stranded colorwork is not to mess up the tension of the yoke, as there is always at least one strand running free on the back of the works (those in the know call them « floats ») and it is extremely easy to make them too short. Here is the inside of my yoke so you can see what I mean. My tricks for controlling the tension are: 1/ to knit inside out, so that the float is on the larger curve of the yoke; 2/ extend my previous stitches when I insert the new colour, to make sure the float is the right length; 3/ allow for plenty of thread when I make increases (as for me this is usually whenmy tension goes wrong.
- Get yourself a yarn guide – absolutely definitely best purchase ever! For Bowfell, I knitted with one strand in each hand. But I am a continental knitter at heart and for my following projects, a yarn guide allowed me to keep all my yarns in the left hand.
- Do not make each of your colours a double-strand. I am so addicted to the Drops Kid Silk/ Baby Merino combination that I just couldn’t resist using it for Bowfell… And God what a mistake! It effectively means that you are working with four strands, increasing massively the possibility of knots. And if you decide the wind te same-colour strands together, you quickly realise that they have totally different tensions and that you always have extra Kid Silk hanging around. A nightmare!
Knitting Bowfell: pattern review
All that said, I enjoyed knitting Bowfell a lot.
Technically, the pattern is perfectly suited for a stranded colorwork beginner: only two colours to alternate overall and a diagram that is quite easy to follow.
Aesthetically, it does not shout out « beginner » at all. I was actually pretty impressed with myself to manage to achieve something so pretty!
I knitted in size 4 needles and used two combinations of Drops Kid Silk and Baby Merino, already used separately for my Chuck jumper and my Belladonna cardigan:
- the dominant wine colour is made up of Baby Merino 34 Heather and Kid Silk 17 Dark Rose
- the contrasting lilac colour is made up of Baby Merino 14 Purple and Kid Silk 11 Lavender
I really like how these colours compliment each other.
This jumper is for my daughter, who at 13 is now taller than me (!!). So I knitted the second size and it is a touch big as my gauge wasn’t exactly the same as the pattern – nothing that she cannot fill while growing more though!
Conclusion
I was so excited with this first stranded colorwork experience that I immediately knitted a second jumper; and a third is still under my needles. Here is a little preview of a soon to come article I hope.
Knitting Hetty by Andy Satterlund
Although my sewing mojo has been on-and-off, my knitting has gone full team over the past two months. Here are my latest two makes, hot off the needles:
You know by now my love for the patterns created by talented Andi Sutterland of Untangling Knots. Although Belladonna is by far my favourite (see my fifth version here), I do sometimes like to venture into the unknown and try a new pattern.
Hetty was the perfect occasion, as it gathers all the conditions to join my knitting pattern Hall of Fame:
- It is a cardigan – I know it is weird but I actually rarely wear jumpers.
- It has lace and I am absolutely addicted to knitting lace, as it very elegantly hides my somewhat rushed and irregular knitting.
- The shape is fitted and cropped (as the large majority of Andi’s pattern), perfect to go with my high-waisted, mostly circle skirts.
Hetty version 1 in power pink
I started with a powder pink version, using the same combination of Drops Baby Merino 54 Powder Pink and Drops Kids Silk 01 Off White I had used for my Whitmoor sweater. I truly adore this colour, with just the right amount of pink to give this subtle powder effect.
I used 5 balls of Baby Merino and 4 of Kid Silk, knitted in size 4 needles. It took me about 2-3 weeks to knit and I was extremely pleased with this cardigan, as the lace is easy to memorise and looks lovely.
I made two changes to the initial pattern:
- I knitted bishop rather than tapered sleeves. To do this, I made no decrease to my sleeves up to the cuffs, where I halved my number of stitches; and I knitted much longer sleeves (50cm from underarm to cuff, then 6cm of cuff). Beware, it does take ages to knit!
- I made the button placket slightly larger to accommodate my bust, but stupidly I somewhat did not follow the instructions properly at the bottom of the placket and you can very obviously see the resulting mess. Oh well…
My only dislike with this cardigan is that it is extremely short. It sits slightly above my skirts’ waistline and it drives me crazy (you can’t tell on the picture as I cheated a bit by pulling the cardigan down just before – the girl is so vain…). I think is it probably because my E cup bust pulls everything up so if you are a lower cup size it might be OK.
Hetty version 2 in strawberry pink
So I obviously needed to have a go at a second, longer version of Hetty (preferably without messing-up the button placket). This time I combined Drops Baby Merino 41 Plum and Drops Kids Silk 17 Dark Rose.
To increase the length, I just added one row of lace before starting the waist ribbing and this length is absolutely spot-on!
I also went for a larger button placket and bishop sleeves here – these sleeves are so much more comfortable than the tapered one, they are really worth the extra knitting effort!
I am very pleased with this colour, which is just this little bit brighter than the one I used for my Icon dress, my Chuck sweater and my Blossom Shawl (for this I used Drops Baby Merino 34 Heather and Drops Kids Silk 17 Dark Rose).
Conclusion
I am extremely pleased to have found a new pattern to add to my favourites, so don’t be surprised to see a few other versions in the coming months…
Icon: my first knitted dress
You probably guessed that 90% of my wardrobe is dresses – I seem to sew them by the truckload, fit-and-flare preferably (see my 2020 sewing review if you don’t believe me)… But ever since I started knitted, it had never occured to me that you could knit a fitted dress.
It seems I was wrong: let me introduce you to Icon, my first (and definitely not last) knitted dress. Hurrah!
The Icon dress
This is the Icon dress by Purl Alpaca Designs, to which I added sleeves for extra warmth in the middle of the winter. The initial dress looks like this – how pretty!
I got tempted to knit a dress by Sam_Sew_Good recent Instagram posts of her two gorgeous Miko dresses, also from Alpaca Purl Designs). Miko has very large pockets though, and I am not a pocket person, but Icon and Maddie definitely caught my eye. After an unfortunate try at Maddie – 480 stitches casted, ten rows knitted in the round, and then I realised I had twisted my first round, arrggghhhhh!!!!), I went for Icon and I am very pleased I did.
Pattern and wool details
The Icon dress knits bottom up, flat (ie not in the round). You knit the front of the dress, then the back, stitch both together, finish off the neckline and armholes and there you are. Well, actually, it seems quick but it isn’t: it took me four weeks to make this dress… with no other project going on… and I am quite a fast knitter! With a flared skirt there is just a lot of knitting to be done. And adding sleeves wasn’t exactly a time-saving option…
This is not very complicated knitting though: you need to know how to knit, purl, create a seed stitch and make cables – all quite easily achievable. Once the pattern is established, there is not even that much counting required.
The flared skirt is cleverly designed: you start with the bottom of the skirt, so with the higher number of stitches, then you decrease on the seed stitch sections, which form a triangle until they disappear.
Then when working with the bodice you have to make a few increases and decreases around the armholes, but nothing too difficult either.
The pattern recommends using Alpaca Fine Wool (from Purl Alpaca Design own herd of Alpacas, how cool is that!) but sadly I find Alpaca wool quite itchy. So I knitted in double-strand, using a combination of Baby Merino and Kid Silk from Drops (colour codes 34 and 17 respectively), which I adore and had already used for my Blossom Shawl and my Chuck jumper. I used size 4 needles for the entire dress, as recommended by the pattern, and knitted a size XS because my sample was a bit bigger.
Changes I made to the initial pattern
The initial pattern is completely fine as it is but I couldn’t help making a few changes to it:
- Instead of the picot stitch at the bottom of the dress, which I am not a fan of, I knitted 10 stockinette rows, which when the dress was finished I turned and hand-saw on the inside.
- I substantially reduced the length of the bodice, so that the end of the seed stitch would sit on my natural waist (slightly above the navel) rather than on my high hips. This is due to my personal body shape: I am very curvy so I always prefer to draw attention to my narrow waist that to my wide hips!
- I attempted some sort of Full Bust Adjustment, to avoid my E-cup boobs pulling on the cables. When I reached the under-bust, I added one stitch before and after each of the cable sections, on two front rows (8 stitches added twice); and then took these extra stitches off over the next two front rows. A bit trial and error but I am very pleased with the end result.
- I added sleeves – a LOOOONNNNG process but absolutely necessary for me in the winter!
My two regrets are that I should have make more decreases around the waist area, which is not fitted enough to my taste. And that my stockinette stitch is not super regular, but it never is for an obscure reason… Next time…
Conclusion
This was a long process and I am still trying to work out how to make the waist a bit more fitted; but overall I’m very pleased that I made this dress. It completely demystified the process of knitting a dress and I am ready for another Icon with lace instead of cables maybe. I may even be brave enough the try and tackle Maddie again. We’ll see! In the meantime I am frantically making hats because they only take a couple of hours!!
2020 knitting in review
Aside from all the rest, I will definitely remember 2020 as the year of my knitting revelation. After ages of being intimidated by knitting patterns, everything finally clicked! As a result: 12 cardigans, 7 jumpers and 2 shawls knitted with love over the past twelve months.
Favourite patterns: Belladonna, Enchantee and Blossom
My most knitted and by far favourite pattern this year is the Belladonna cardigan by Andi Satterlund. I knitted four versions over 2020 (and I don’t rule out more versions in the near future…): pale blue, royal blue, black and purple – the only one not reviewed on this blog is the purple, completed just before the Christmas school break, parents will understand me…
I adore this pattern for its beautiful lace inserts – there is literally lace everywhere except on the sleeves; and its absolute perfect fit. I raised the neckline for my black and purple ones and it makes them much more versatile, so maybe the low neckline is the only negative of this pattern.
My second favourite pattern this year is the Enchantee sweater by Atelier Emilie – three jumpers knitted here (royal blue, baby pink and lilac), all for my teenage daughters.
I am a huge fan of knitted lace leaves and this pattern is so easy that it can become quite addictive. I substantially reduced the smaller size to fit my daughters’ FR 38/ UK 10/ US 4, as neither of us is into loose sweaters – 4 repeats of the lace at the front and at the back are amply sufficient.
And my third favourite pattern is the Blossom jumper by Along avec Anna (2 jumpers, 3 cardigans).
I had already knitted the Blossom shawl at the end of 2019 and I think it is the project that really got me into knitting lace.
Knitting the jumper turned out to be thousand times easier than the shawl (which is quite complex as you have to manage increases on top of the lace chart). I knitted two jumpers for my daughters but the first one turned out far too large…
Here again this pattern is quite loose-fitting, so for my second version I substantially reduced the sizing.
The lace is so beautiful that I also self-drafted an all-over lace cardigan on the basis of the jumper – the Blossom cardigan pattern exists but the lace sadly appears only on the back, definitely not enough for me! I knitted a white and a coral version, both reviewed on the blog; and also a duck blue one, more on this later.
Favourite designer: Andi Sutterland
My absolute favourite designer of the year is Andi Sutterland, creator of Untangling Knots. This year I knitted nine Untangling Knots cardigans: Belladonna (x4), Salal (x2), Agatha (x1) and Wainthropp (x1); and two jumpers: Chuck x2.
I had been eying Andi’s patterns for many years, solely for their style: they have this consistent 50’s fitted-and-cropped shape that goes so well with my staple fit-and-flare dresses. But when I started using the patterns, I had a big surprise: they are so amazingly clear! Everything is written down line-by-line, in the most simple manner, it is truly amazing! After that, it is really hard to follow other more convoluted instructions. And the fit is always spot-on, so no bad surprises on sizing. I am definitely a fan.
And a few flops obviously…
In case you are wondering, not everything went smoothly this year. My major disaster was at the beginning of lockdown 1, when I re-knitted three times a cardigan in size 3 needles, to realise it was far too big and my knitting was completely irregular. No picture for this one, it went directly to the bin.
A smaller-scale disaster was a recent baby project, for which I knitted the entire body and a full sleeve but then in a moment of madness pulled on a string… and unravelled everything… Arrrggghhhh!
My other fail was my red Salal cardigan, for which I did not use the right wool – it ended up too big and with a very irregular texture I abhor. This one went to the charity shop.
And a semi-fail: a Blossom cardigan for my daughter, longer than mine and in the colour she asked for… and which hasn’t been worn a single time! Oh well…
Conclusion: my most relaxing hobby
Knitting is such a different hobby to sewing !While I’m so focused on the end when sewing, when I knit it is more the process than I enjoy. Projects take so long anyway that there is no point counting the hours spent! If you haven’t tried I definitely recommend you give it a go!