Available in Afternoon Tea Volume Two!

I knit Nilgiri this summer, both at home and in Halifax!

The sleeves were perfect travel knitting – easy but not boring, and small enough (since I didn’t want to pack the whole sweater!). I picked up this Indigodragonfly MCN Worsted last winter or so at work. It looks like more of a red until you take a closer look and realize it’s more of a saturated, deep hot pick. I love it! It was super squishy to knit with and has awesome stitch definition.

The stitch pattern is one that I made up myself. I do use stitch dictionaries sometimes, at least for inspiration, when starting a new sweater design, but for this one I pretty much started from scratch. I was inspired by some runway and ready-to-wear sweaters and jackets with geometric, square designs in colours and textures. I wanted to figure out a stitch pattern that looked like squares, but a little more interesting to knit than your standard knit and purl basketweave type.

I love knit-in hems and this was a great project to do them on – they don’t distract from the geometric pattern, and create a nice clean edge. The sleeves are knit flat because it was easier to work the cuff hem, as well as making the Lacy Squares pattern the same on the sleeves and body (which is also knit flat). But you still join the sleeves to the body for the yoke as for other bottom-up raglans, so although it isn’t completely seamless, the sleeve seams are easy to do!

I found some cool square wooden buttons in my stash, although (shhh) they’re a little too small for the buttonholes and keep popping out! I’ll have to get some new ones if I want to wear it buttoned up.

Doesn’t Angela look awesome?

To purchase the pattern, check out Afternoon Tea Volume Two or Nilgiri on Ravelry.

Available in Afternoon Tea Volume Two!

This pullover started as a pretty different idea – here’s my original sketch and swatch.

The main idea was using two strands of sweetgeorgia merino silk lace held together in different shades, in order to blend the colours nicely and create a lightweight fabric. Originally I was going to do just one front cable panel, a boatneck, and an asymmetrical draping panel in the front. I actually did knit up most of the sweater with just one cable panel, but I decided that having two in the front would better accomplish my goal – cinching in the sweater a bit at the waist.

I also made the cable much longer (more rounds) than my original idea. I sort of made up the cable as I went along (making sure to write it all down) – as much as it’s a good idea to write the pattern first then knit it, I get a lot of satisfaction out of just knitting without as much planning!

The deep v-neck is a neckline I find flattering on a lot of people, and if it’s too deep for you it’s easy to layer a cami or shirt underneath. Or you can make the neck shallower by working the neck increases closer together, and joining in the round earlier.

Did I mention that the merino silk lace is just sooooo soft? It’s super cozy while still being light and breathable.

To purchase the pattern, check out Afternoon Tea Volume Two or Terai on Ravelry.