Author: Pam

New England native, Florida resident. Blogging about boating, beach-combing, gardening, camping, and knitting. Work for Zazzle as a designer since 2008.

Yarn Purchased at End of Year Sales

Say good-bye to the old year while saving money on favorite, or new, yarn. Like many other knitters and crocheters, the end of year yarn sales are something to look forward to.

Knitting for Olive

My end of year yarn sale purchases included, for the first time, Knitting for Olive yarn, a company located in Denmark. They offer free shipping – all over the world (I believe) – on a first time order. Along with that savings, the company offered 15% off on their Soft Mohair yarn, so I got a nice discount on this lovely yarn.

My order arrived the day after Christmas! That was fast, considering the holiday busyness and that the order shipped from overseas. I was impressed.

I bought enough yarn to make two sweaters. Still deciding on which patterns while I finish up knitting the gold Calliope pullover.

Dusty Moose yarn color
Dusty Moose in Mohair and merino
knitting for olive green yarn
“Pea Shoots” green yarn

*Update: Used the Dusty Moose color to knit the lovely Field Sweater.

Purl Soho

I took advantage of the end of year sale online at Purl Soho and ordered some new types of yarn. Good Wool is a light worsted weight / DK (per their yarn page) that comes in big, soft skeins of 383 yards. I chose a natural, undyed brown called Hickory Nut. I wound one skein by hand and found no knots or inconsistencies. It is truly very soft. This yarn is also affordable and is NOT Superwash. I will be knitting a sweater with it in the near future!

Purl Soho yarn skeins
Good Wool and Hedgerow
wool yarn skeins
Natural brown wool and Irish tweed

Almost all my hand knits in 2023 were sweaters and I was wanting to knit a new hat. The Hedgerow tweed caught my eye and I chose nice, neutral gray and blue (Woodpile Gray and Charcoal Blue) colors. It is spun from Merino, cashmere and silk and comes in skein lengths of 243 yards. 

This yarn comes from Ireland and is very similar to the Soft Donegal yarn I bought to make a poncho and Cobblestone cardigan. I’ve already begun a hat and learned how to do a tubular cast on for it! 

I’m excited to get knitting with all this beautiful yarn and will post my projects here, on my blog, as I go. I do have some knitting projects in the queue, but I tend to change my mind on the yarn I’ll use. Eventually, I will have to decide!

More knitting adventure stories…

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Knitting Magic Loop is Common Sense and Easy

If you have considered learning how to knit the Magic Loop, do it! This technique will help will all small circumference knitting needs.

For some reason I have not tried to knit using Magic Loop until recently. I’ve considered it, but most of the video tutorials I watched seemed to make it look difficult, or more difficult than it really is. Now that I understand how it’s done, it’s basically common sense.

Three Ways to Knit a Small Circumference

Magic loop is used when stitches are too few to knit with a normal size circular needle. When faced with knitting narrow part of a sleeve, or sleeve cuff, socks, hat crown, or any small circumference, there are three different ways it can be done. 

If there are enough stitches, a 16″ needle can be used. I usually use this size for the beginning of top down sleeves and also for beginning adult size hats. 

As the amount of stitches become fewer and won’t fit around the 16″, we must switch to a 9″ circular, or double-pointed needles (DPNs). But, knitting with a 9″ needle can be a challenge. Also, many of us (me included) despise DPNs with all their awkwardness.

With Magic Loop, all that can be knit with one long needle. It keeps knitters from needing to buy shorter needles and therefore can save money.

magic loop sleeve knitting
Using one long needle to knit this sleeve.

How to Knit Using the Magic Loop

Picture your knitting as you would using a smaller needle, or DPNs. You are knitting around the same exact way, just splitting the stitches on a long needle.

In order to do this you need a long circular needle – 32 inch or longer for a sleeve, but a 24 inch might work for smaller items. A bit of the needle sticks out of each side of the project, so figure it from there.

knitting magic loop
Calliope Sweater knitting project

Pull some of the cable from about halfway around. Now you have split the knitting into 2 sections. They don’t have to be exact for most items. Knit one side following your pattern (mine for this sweater is simply knitting around). When you reach the pulled out cord, figure the needles to continue knitting around as usual. It means pulling one needle out – the one where the yarn is hanging. Then, use that needle to continue knitting. Mark the beginning of round so you don’t get confused.

A video I watched mentioned holding the stitches tightly when starting that new row. This way there are no loose stitches where the needles split – which is called ladders.

Best Times to Use Magic Loop

  • Hat crown
  • Sleeve – part, or all
  • Socks – some people knit both socks at once using Magic Loop!
  • Mittens
  • Two at once – socks, mittens, mitts
  • Baby & kids apparel which is overall smaller.

Videos For Magic Loop

A Look Back at 12 Months of Knitting

As we move onward to 2024, I usually take a look at the knitting projects I have completed over the last twelve months. I find the list at Ravelry, where I post all my knitting works. They can be found in my notebook, projects and challenge. Each year we can set a challenge number of knits we’d like to accomplish.  I did not pick a number, but ended up doing 9 complete knits. This is not a bad number considering eight of them were sweaters! 

Finished Knitting Projects of 2023

This list contains links to my blog page for each project. There you will find a link to the designer’s pattern page. Stars next to the pattern indicate something I enjoyed and would recommend.

  • January – *Goldenfern sweater pattern by Jennifer Steingass. A pretty colorwork pullover knit using fingering weight yarn.
  • February – *Arco Iris, V-neck pullover with short sleeves by Joji Locatelli. Good pattern, bad choice of yarn for me.
  • March – Easy V, pullover with colorwork yoke by Caitlin Hunter.
  • March – Joker pullover for my son. Knit in bulky Alafosslopi yarn. This is when I discovered that colorwork is not fun using bulky yarn!
  • May – Blue *Cobblestone Cardigan, my second one with changes made.
  • July – *Lakeland Tee, by Heidi Kirrmaier was knit as a summer top. It’s a great pattern, I just didn’t like choice of yarn.
  • August – *Blueberry Vodka Lemonade, by Thea Colman is a boatneck, 3/4 sleeve top knit in fingering weight yarn.
  • October – *Eva Cardigan, by Petite Knit is an oversize sweater with a v-neck and wide button band. I had trouble getting gauge, but finished up nicely.
  • November – * Aran Watch Cap, by Charlene Schurch with cables and folded brim.
Cable hat in light pink
Aran Watch Cap – yarn held double to use up some pink mohair.
Blueberry Vodka Lemonade sweater
Blueberry Vodka Lemonade sweater
hand knit Eva cardigan
Eva Cardigan

Of the nine knitting projects listed above, I was happy with most of them once they were finished. The Easy V sweater was a complete fail for me. It has a very wide, loose neck which makes the whole thing hang horribly. The bulky knit Joker sweater was a fine pattern, but tough colorwork to accomplish. In fact, I gave up after a few rows! 

I already have four new sweater patterns chosen to knit in the New Year and I’m excited to get started! What are you planning to knit in 2024?

Thank you for reading …

Autumn Alpine Sweater Size and Measurements

As usual, sweaters I knit by this designer end up long and big. After finishing the colorwork yoke of Autumn Alpine, I am looking at some options as I move forward.

The Autumn Alpine sweater pattern is offered by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks. It is knit in a fingering weight yarn and has a floral, colorwork yoke.

Initially I purchased the pattern with plans to knit this one for my daughter. I chose the smaller size 2 for that reason. For some reason, although I do make a gauge swatch always, sweater projects from this designer always come out very big in the end.

I admit right off that I did not do a colorwork swatch for this pattern, only the stockinette stitch, but I did add a few rows of color. From experience, I go up a needle size for colorwork. As I knit this yoke, I kept thinking that it was getting quite long. Now that I am finished (with the yoke) and can measure it, the length to the split for body and sleeves is nearly 11 inches and not 8 as the chart on the schematic page of the pattern. (No measurement of the yoke is mentioned in the actual pattern pages, but I should have looked at that schematic page.)

Knitting Autumn Alpine sweater
autumn Alpine colorwork sweater
knitting colorwork Autumn Alpine pattern
Yoke finished

Am I going to end up with a droopy, oversize sweater once again? My Easy V sweater, by this same designer also came out long and large.

The Dilemma

Here is my problem. Normal stockinette swatched comes out right on target for size. I know that my stranded colorwork will be a bit tighter and the only option is to knit it with a larger needle or chance having it pucker when transitioning to plain stockinette on the finished garment.

A larger needle will also add length and apparently this is what is happening. Therefore, what can be done? I’m not a super experienced knitter when it comes to making my own gauge changes to a pattern…. so….I must go down a sweater size. Fortunately for me, I had begun knitting a smaller size anyway. Ordinarily I would knit a size 3 or 4 for myself, but I am following directions for a size 2. It is the shortest of the yoke charts and still came out very long. 

Purchase: Autumn Alpine Sweater Pattern Page

Stitch Counts Comparison to Other Patterns For Body Width

Now that the body and sleeves have been split, I want to know if there are enough stitches to go around me comfortably. For this, I dug out two sweater patterns that I’ve already used. They are by designer Jennifer Steingass. I compared the stitch counts on the bodies to the stitch count I have for this knit.

My Autumn Alpine body stitch count is 240 (for the size 2). Goldenfern body stitch count is 252, and that sweater is plenty wide on me. Meadow Moon stitch count is 238 and fits me fine. 

All sweaters are knit using a size 4 needle, but I knit various sizes of each pattern. If you notice, the small size 2 of the Autumn Alpine is close in number to the stitch count for Meadow Moon. It stands to reason that this current pattern will be large enough around for me. BUT, I used a different type of yarn.

The Yarn

I used Rauma Finnul yarn for both Steingass patterns. I love Rauma (and I love Jennifer Steingass patterns too). I’d have to say that Rauma yarn is one of my favorite yarns to date. I have lots of yarn yet to try, but both sweaters knit with Rauma came out soft and comfy and great looking.

Sonder Yarn Sunday Morning French press color
Color “French Press”

This time I am knitting with Sonder Yarn company’s 4 ply. I bought it during a big sale and wanted to try it due to the gorgeous colors. This chocolate brown I am using (color way French Press) is pretty, but the yarn is alternating thick and thin, at times becoming very thin.  Also, I’ve already had three knots in my first yarn skein. Even so, it is very pretty, and washes to become nice and soft.

knitting colorwork Autumn Alpine pattern
Yoke finished

My color choices for the yoke are less than wonderful. It will be fine for me, but I would definitely have changed some things. I won’t rip this out, and consider it to be a bit bohemian and unique. I do love the examples (knit by others) where all one color, or close colors, were used for the colorwork.

Considerations

After browsing through the finished knits on the Alpine Autumn projects pages at Ravelry, I see that many sweaters seem oversize when worn. Helpful: **One knitter posted that she split for the sleeves before finishing the yoke patterning. This is a great idea if you want to figure out matching sleeves to yoke patterning.

Finishing Up The Sweater

In the end, I chose to do a corrugated rib on the body. Then I knit short sleeves to make this sweater more of a layering piece. I feel relief at getting this project off the needles. Currently it is drying and then I plan to see how it fits.

sweater knitting
Short sleeve version

Fixing the Neck

I plant to pick up stitches around the bottom of the neck ribbing and then remove the current stitches. It doesn’t work for me.

Layered
Yoke colors
Yoke and Neckline
seed stitch at sides of autumn alpine
My addition of seed stitch at sides to widen the body
autumn alpine sweater
small green yarn

More stories About Knitting…

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