Darjeeling

Available in Afternoon Tea Volume Two!

I’m kicking off a series of posts about the sweaters of Afternoon Tea Volume Two with Darjeeling!

Last winter I released The Map Collection, a collection of accessories patterns including the Arrowwood Legwarmers, cozy legwarmers knit out of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light. The colourwork pattern is based on a Barbara Walker stitch pattern called “Tiny Bowknot”. The pattern is just worked in one colour in her stitch dictionary, but I really wanted it to be in two colours. Took a bit of fiddling, but I managed to work out how to convert the stitch pattern to be worked in the round, and with two colours (and it’s really fun too).

I loved the two-colour version so much that I decided to work it up into a full sweater, this time with the worsted weight Ultra Alpaca. I had a bunch of this dark grey (Salt & Pepper) in my stash and just needed to pick out a contrast colour. Berry Pie Mix is a gorgeous heathered red-purple, and it takes less than a skein to work the contrast for the whole sweater!

I knew I didn’t want the whole entire sweater to be colourwork, so I decided to work the sleeves in just the plain grey. My favourite way of knitting sweaters is in one piece from the bottom up, but that wouldn’t work if the body was colourwork and the sleeves plain, since there wouldn’t be any way to move the contrast colour across the sleeve sections. So instead I knit the body in one piece from the bottom up, then worked the upper fronts and back separately. The sleeves are knit in the round from the cuff to the underarm, then seamed to the body. The raglan lines are nice and easy to mattress stitch, because everything lines up so neatly.

The stitch pattern is a little different in the sweater version, because it’s knit flat – the bows are worked over 2 rows, so you do have to work a WS row with two colours. It’s really easy though, I promise. Both charts and written directions are given in the pattern.

I’m so pleased with the finished sweater. I made it a bit oversized, so it’s just really comfy and easy to throw over a tee or a fancier top. The Ultra Alpaca fills in really nicely with a bit of a halo, but it’s not too pilly so far. I actually finished my sample last winter, but didn’t get to wear it much. Darjeeling is going to get a lot of wear this winter, for sure!

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