Don’t you love it when cute and practical meet? The cute: this striped sweater with its nautical feel, sized from 3 months to 4 years.
Work it in the round up to the armholes, then divide it for shaping. Near the end, you’ll add the ribbed buttonbands at the arms for a nice finish.
The practical: that buttonband! I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get a wiggly baby’s head through a neckhole, but it’s kind of like… well… I’m just going to leave this here.
Yep, that’s about right.
As a parent, I’m also delighted by the choice of Bella Cash for this. The yarn is machine washable, but with its cashmere content it’s also baby-shower-worthy. Its palette has a good range of pastels and other kid-friendly tones, too.
All in all, this pullover gets the knitter/mom seal of approval. Now if you’ll pardon me, I have to go watch some more cat videos. It just never gets old.
Sized from 3 months to 2 years, this clever cardi uses machine washable Little Bird and its self-striping sibling Little Bird Colors to easily create a bright little jacket for baby.
The front and back are knit flat, as are the sleeves. Then, they’re seamed together.
Add the edging, and your favorite buttons, and you’re ready to go.
I actually have a lot of thoughts about this pattern, because
1) I love cables, and
2) I heard the “colorful language” around here as the pattern swelled to 4… 5… and finally to 9 pages. That’s what happens with extended sizing (although we don’t really consider it “extended”), and full charts and written instructions.
The consensus is that it was worth it.
There are quite a few things to love here, like sizing from Small to 4X in the pullover…
detailing like twists along the sleeve and texture within the front cables…
and how nicely this does in Uptown Worsted Mist, which is variegated enough to add interest but not so much that it overwhelms a lovely design.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend, and that you take time to do something for yourself.
Such a beauty. The Bellissima Cardi is a classic lightweight cardi with classic construction.
Knit it from the bottom up in pieces, then seam.
Bella Cash superwash merino/nylon/cashmere blend creates a soft, lightweight material that moves with you and looks flattering. We love it on size 2 (2.75mm) needles for the Fair Isle yoke. Crisp and well-defined, with a beautiful, smooth texture.
Even though the stitches are delicate, the fabric is machine washable and durable, thanks to the nylon and superwash merino content in Bella Cash. Sized small through 4X, this is a great wardrobe staple. Hard to believe it’s a free pattern!
When I decided to write a blog post today I was planning to focus on my Seamless Leaves pullover, but as I was taking photos, an idea popped into my head – why not share what everyone around the office is working on? I moseyed around the office asking our team about what they’re working on and whether I could take a few quick photos of their projects. Sadly, Yonca and Amy are out today (they surely deserve it after a busy weekend at Stitches West), so their own projects aren’t included.
Cottonwood is one of my favorite yarns. It’s eco-friendly and has so many beautiful colors to choose from.
I love so many of the projects in the new collection, Arboretum, featuring projects by the one and only Amy Gunderson using Fibra Natura Cottonwood. Each pattern in the Arboretum ebook is extremely wearable and tempting to cast on, especially when the temperature has been lingering in the 60s and 70s in North Carolina. I decided that I needed to cast on a Seamless Leaves pullover for myself, and I wanted a basic, black version. Because of my inclination to knit things in deeply saturated colors (especially warm colors), I just don’t have enough neutral garments in my wardrobe. This project is my perfect solution.
I love the lightweight fabric created by Cottonwood. It’s wonderfully smooth and even with stitch definition that makes the raglan details on this pattern shine.
Even unblocked and worked in such a dark color, these details look great thanks to Cottonwood’s superb stitch definition.
Our sales team seems to be having an affair with two-at-a-time socks, toe-up socks.
Left: Krista’s socks in Pix, Right: Katie’s socks in Allegro
Here’s what Krista had to say about her project:
“I’m always working on a pair of socks. Always. For this project, I am using one of my favorite yarns, Pix, in the Paisley print. They’re a plain vanilla pair (nothing but stockinette) using a basic short row heel. I love how Pix works up in patterns as I’m knitting. This yarn makes a simple project very fun. Socks are perfect on-the-go knitting to keep in my bag.”
Here’s what Katie had to say about her beautiful WIP:
“I enjoy making socks, but I have Second Sock Syndrome and never learned how to do two-at-a-time socks. Krista helped me with the cast-on and now I am loving it! I was even able to just knit at my daughter’s choir concert last night and didn’t mess up. Woohoo; progress! I love the elasticity of Allegro. I am using the color Grape Sonata. I decided to do ribbing over the arch instead of just stockinette stitch because I love my store-bought socks with the ribbing on the foot. We’ll see how it turns out!”
I’m sure they’re going to be perfect! If you’re also a sock knitter, you might be interested in one of our free sock patterns like this one, this one, or this one.
Finally, our social-media extraordinaire (and quite frankly, everything-extraordinaire!), Heather, showed me a deliciously squishy hat knit up in Poems Silk in the Baffin Island colorway. She told me she enjoys a simple hat project when she’s knitting at the movie theater. I have to say, this is always something that impresses me. Whenever I bring knitting to the theater I have the tendency to drop the occasional stitch or insert an unwanted yarn-over. Serious props to those of you who are successful in your endeavors in low-light knitting! Heather’s hat is looking great and we can’t wait to see the finished version.
That’s it for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed a little glimpse into some of our projects! We’d love to share more soon.
When we have a model that’s this great to work with (and she really was great), we’re always happy that we can have something comfy and fun for them to wear.
The Lounge Pullover is knitted in Bella Chenille, a soft and fuzzy bulky-weight yarn that’s popular for baby and home decor projects. However, we recently added some more grown-up colors (like the 119 Misty used here), and we wanted to show what else this yarn can do!
This roomy sweater is knit in pieces from the bottom-up. Shoulders are joined using the 3-needle bind-off, then the sleeves are picked up and knit from the top-down. The cables are written and charted.
Such a wonderful piece to slip into – like a big fuzzy hug!
Yonca is our Sales Manager, and an excellent knitter and crocheter. That’s her, sporting the Lace Leaf Pullover that she modified from the free Lace Leaf Cardigan in Garden 10.
Yonca’s kids are off at college, and like many crafting parents, she’s sending them a couple of things to help keep them warm while they’re away. She gave her daughter a beautiful cardigan – the one we shared last week – and now her son gets his turn.
Kenan’s Hoodie is worked in pieces from the bottom up in Deluxe Worsted Tweed Superwash. It’s made in one of our newer colors, 915 Cloud Blue, which just straddles the line between blue and gray.
The design features a dropped shoulder and roomy hood for a casual look. Although we’re calling this a men’s sweater, there’s no reason it wouldn’t work for a woman as well.
We love hearing stories of all the knitted and crocheted “hugs” that people send to loved ones far away. They’re so satisfying to give and to receive.
We hope you stay warm and cozy this weekend, and that you’re able to reach out to someone you care about.
If ever there were weather that called for a big, comfy sweater in 100% bulky wool, this is it. Say hello to Penelope’s Cardigan.
Amy Gunderson designed this warm and relaxed hug using our Deluxe Bulky Superwash on US size 10 1/2 (6.5mm) needles. Knitted seamlessly from the top down, this raglan-sleeved long cardi is perfect for a night in.
We hope you bundle up snug and cozy this weekend, with a fun project in your lap and a warm mug by your side.
There’s a lot to love about this easy pullover. The way the stripes look in reverse stockinette, the comfy fit, the interest provided by two colors of self-shading yarn… we could go on.
This is a good, basic sweater pattern that goes fairly quickly on US size 10 (6mm) needles. Knit it in pieces, then seam. If you’ve been a little leery of trying a sweater, this would be a good one to start on.
The sweater uses Major in two colors – 126 Honeydew and 117 Graphite (shown). You could go wild with color combinations, or keep it grounded by sticking with monochrome 117 Graphite for one of your shades. There are a lot of possibilities here.
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