Author: Pam

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

Knitting the Goldenfern Sweater Pattern

Knitting the Goldenfern pullover, a Jenn Steingass pattern, in Rauma yarn with pink yarn colorwork at the bottom and on sleeves.

The Goldenfern pullover is a Jenn Steingass knitting pattern design. It is knit using fingering weight yarn and has colorwork at the bottom of the body and end of sleeves.

The yarns I chose were Rauma Garn, in light gray, combined with a gradient pink handspun. The darker, coral pink color is Jamieson & Smith, which I used for the very bottom of sleeves and all bottom ribbing. I chose to add one row of pink at the neck.

Casting On and Needle Sizes

My gauge was off, but in the end the sweater turned out fine. For me: The cast-on at the neck (this is a top-down sweater) was done on a size 3, 16 inch circular. The main body and sleeve knitting was done on a size 4 needle. All colorwork was done using a size 5, although a size 6 is recommended for the body colorwork, and I’m thinking maybe I should have done that. Size 3 needles were used again for the ribbing at the bottom of the body and sleeves.

Goldenfern
Goldenfern yarn used
Goldenfern

Knitting The Sleeves

I picked up the stitches to begin knitting sleeves downward, using a 16 inch circular needle. As the circumference became smaller with decreases, I switched to a 9-inch size needle.

Then I used a size 5 circular and did the pink colorwork down to Row 37. Using the J&S coral pink when the chart said to use a new CC color.

This is when I changed to size 3 DPN needles and did a plain color 1×1 rib for about 7 rows. The bind-off is a normal bind off and not the i-cord suggested in the pattern.

Total sleeve length is 18.5 inches. Pattern suggestion is 18, so I’m close.

Goldenfern sweater knitting
Goldenfern colorwork sleeve
Pretty colorwork on the sleeve
9-inch circular needle knitting
Using a 9-inch circular for the cuff

The Fall of 2022 was not a good one, with two disastrous hurricanes hitting the area. The knitting on the Goldenfern pullover began in September, and alternated with some other knitting I wanted to do. It has been a relaxing escape for me with other stresses, like the hurricane mess, that piled up. The pattern is easy to follow with lots of helpful notes by the designer.

Buy the Goldenfern Pattern

The link above goes to Ravelry, where you will find so many beautiful finished knits that use some truly gorgeous yarn color combinations. Go there to get inspired and knit your own Goldenfern. The designer has an offer to buy 2, get one free. Her patterns are so well written, and she has many beautiful patterns.

Goldenfern pullover sweater hand knit with Rauma in light gray, and pink hand-spun variegated yarn.
Goldenfern
Hand knit sweater “Goldenfern” hanging outside near the tomato plants in February.
February photo

Finished Knitting

January 7th and the sweater is finished! I took some photos before all ends were woven in. Now, for the wash and blocking. But before all that I would say the pullover is a great success.

I’m very bad at keeping track of the amount of yarn I used, so I can’t list it here. I had one ball of the hand-spun and it was plenty for all the colorwork with some left over. I have a small bit of the Rauma left as well, so my calculations worked. I probably used around 1,100 yards of Rauma.

This pattern shows the sweater as being more cropped, which does not work for me. I added a few more inches. Thevlength is perfect at 14 inches from underarm to bottom.

See my other Jenn Steingass sweater “Meadow Moon” here.

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Lots of Changes This Year

Writing a blog, sharing photos, and doing research and making links takes time. Lately I don’t think the time spent doing all that is worth enough to continue. I have stopped writing my gardening blog, and downgraded my…

Knitters and Our Many Projects

How many projects do you have on your needles? It is not uncommon to find that fellow knitters have many things going at once.

The Genius of Ravelry

Ravelry is an online fiber crafting (knitting) site that is very helpful in many ways.

Don’t know about Ravelry? I doubt there are many knitters, who are online often, could NOT have heard of the Ravelry site. It is a place for knitters, crocheters, and designers to gather and share, learn and grow together.

I use Ravelry to find patterns, share my knitted projects, find yarn, and check on colors before buying yarn. Occasionally I use the forum to find answers to questions about a pattern, or join a knit-along (KAL).

Lets look further at how Ravelry can benefit a knitter. I’ll speak about the craft of knitting here because that is how I use the site. Crocheters are included, and their experience should be about the same.

The Basics of Ravelry

Ravelry is free. Set up an account and create a profile. A blog feed can be linked, as well as up-to three other places you are found online. Of course you can fill in as much or little as you like. Social media sites can be included, and the Ravelry account can be linked to your Instagram.

I use all of these options because of my online business. Becoming a member is important because it allows you to view necessary things on the site. It’s free, and you can do more as a member.

Ravelry’s Learning Curve

There is a bit of a learning curve (for some of us) in the beginning. The profile page is pretty empty until you begin sharing projects, finding favorites, stashing yarn, and building a library. But the object is not to fill these places. They will fill nicely on their own as you discover favorite patterns and knit some yourself.

If I come across a member who has knit a lot of projects I love, I may add them to my Friends.

Finding Favorite Projects

When I get the urge to knit something, Ravelry is the first place I search. Anything that looks good – like I may want to knit it in the future – will be saved to my “Favorites” section. I have made various categories, such as “sweaters”, “ponchos”, etc. where I keep the patterns I find while conducting a search.

Finding Good Yarn and Perfect Colors

I can’t count the number of times I have been considering a project but can’t decide on a yarn type, or need to see a particular color. Ravelry has a search at the top of the page for “yarns” (among other things). When I am shopping for yarn but can’t picture the color all knit up, I use the yarn search to see what other knitters have made with the color.

When using a variegated or speckled yarn, it’s difficult to imagine the way the yarn will knit up. Usually there are a number of knitters who have already used the yarn color so you can search and find images to view.

Often other users have left comments about the yarn in the “comment” section. This is where to learn just how well knitters liked using the yarn.

When choosing a pattern to knit, click on the yarn used (by the designer) to read more about it. Each yarn page also includes a link to “buy this yarn online”. Find locations by country, with some shops including their current pricing.

Add yarn favorites to your own “favorites” area for further consideration.

Share What I Am Knitting

When I begin a knitting project I take photos with my iPhone. I do this to share on my knitting blog (the one you are reading), and to share at Ravelry on my “projects” page. Occasionally I share at Instagram as well. By the way, Instagram is a great place to find new pattern releases and designer discounts.

By adding this info about my knitting, it reminds me of how long it took to knit it, the yarn type and needle size I used, and comments about my experience knitting it. This helps me for future projects in case I want to knit it again. It also helps other knitters who are thinking about knitting the same project. I love it when others share their notes, and photos, on their knitwear pages.

Join a Group

I’m not a super social person. I’ve joined a lot of Ravelry groups just to do so, but a better idea is to join meaningful groups. Your local yarn stores may have a group, and many pattern designers and yarn makers have groups.

When a pattern is used the project can be shared on the designers group page (just join their group) where other knitters can find ideas and info.

For instance, when I finished my stranded colorwork mittens, Fiddlehead, knit with Brooklyn Tweed Arbor yarn, I shared them on the “Stranded” group and with “Brooklyn Tweed Fan Club”.

Fiddlehead mittens hand-knit in Arbor yarn by Brooklyn Tweed

What are your favorite things about Ravelry?

Ravelry is used for a lot more than just what I’ve mentioned on this page. You can list your own yarn stash to keep track of what you have, and what has been used up. Some Ravelers will trade or sell yarn they have. Also keep track of your needle collection if you choose.

Ready to join? Begin at the Getting Started page. I’ll see you at Ravelry – you can find me here.

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Here Comes the New Year, And Oh The WIPs

The end of 2022 has arrived. I have a few knitting works in progress (wips) to share, as well as a good-bye to a year that was not all that great.

Personally, I am happy to say good-bye to 2022. Overall it was a horrible year, but some good things happened. I can’t berate myself too much for all these WIPs hanging about. Usually I don’t let them get so out of control.

I’m finishing up the year with more WIPs (Work in Progress) knits than ever. I chalk it up to Fall being extremely busy here, with 2 hurricanes to deal with, and a surprise visit from my daughter – she came in between the hurricanes. We also had a 40th birthday party for my son in December, which was a ton of work. Then, of course Christmas. I just mailed out gifts today – December 30th! So, yes… I am behind.

My Current WIPs

The knitting projects in my baskets are the Brodgar Poncho, a Playdate sweater, the Goldenfern pullover, and two Easy V sweaters. I do have other projects that have been sitting for a while, like the thrummed mittens and spiral scarves, but I’m not counting them here.

Brodgar poncho
Brodgar
Playdate
Goldenfern
Goldenfern
short row shaping on Easy V sweater
Easy V in Brown
Easy V sweater in green
Easy V in Green

How many WIPs in your knitting baskets?

When I look around Ravelry, sometimes I see knitters with pages full of WIPs! Then, I don’t feel so badly about having the five I have.

Good Riddance 2022

The worst part of 2022 was being sick for over a month with Covid. We had just purchased a camping trailer, that we wanted to use, but that got put off until the end of August. It took me a while to get better, probably because I am in my 60s. Then the hurricanes hit. Ian brought flooding and Nicole brought damage to the beaches. Our beaches are still recovering, as are the people whose homes were flooded. We got off pretty lucky, but need a new roof and are working on making that happen.

We just had a few nights of below freezing temps here in Florida and I covered the plants, but lost a few to the extreme cold. It appears the winter will tend to be a cold one for us in the south. Some years we get off lucky and temps stay decent. It is the end to a year that I chalk up to not so great. And then there is the state of our country, and the world in general.

New Year’s Day Cast On?

I would love to CAST ON a new project on New Year’s Day, but we’ll see. I have some yarn coming from Miss Babs end of year sale, and recently spent my birthday present gift certificate on come soft Donegal yarn. Both yarns will be used to knit sweaters when I find the right patterns.

This year I cast on for the Solstice Glow chicken hat on January first. I finished it eight days later and it was a fun hat to knit. This year I think I will continue to finish up what’s been started before I do any more casting on.

Solstice Glow chicken hat
Solstice Glow hat pattern

Happy New Year, We Can Hope

Read About More of My Knitting Adventures

A Simple Sweater With Stripes

My newest knitting project is a simple sweater with stripes. A link to the pattern page on Ravelry is further down the page. This one is advertised as a good project to use up stash yarn. I can see how that would be true. I was finishing up knitting the Warm Up sweater (#3), and…

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Brooklyn Tweed’s Woolen Spun “Shelter” and “Quarry”

Brooklyn Tweed’s Quarry and Shelter yarn reviews and what to know when knitting with woolen spun yarn.

This was my first purchase of Brooklyn Tweed’s “Shelter” yarn. It’s a worsted weight with 140 yard per skein. It feels a lot like the Quarry yarn, which I have knit with before, but that one is a bulky weight.

Reviews I’ve read at Ravelry, of Shelter yarn, are also similar to Quarry, in that knitters have sometimes had trouble with the yarn pulling apart as they knit. I know what they are saying is true, because I had this problem when I first began knitting with Quarry. I almost decided to NEVER buy it again – I was so mad. I thought it was the dumbest yarn ever. Glad I got over that.

Now, I want to try knitting with the worsted weight version. Shelter yarn comes in some really beautiful earthy colors. I don’t have any specific patterns picked out yet, but these skeins will probably become hats.

Brooklyn Tweed shelter yarn skeins
Shelter yarn skeins come in a variety of pretty colors.

In Defense of Shelter and Quarry Yarn

A few years ago I bought a couple skeins of Brooklyn Tweed’s Quarry yarn. It felt very weird, and when I began knitting a hat, I couldn’t even get it joined in the round. The yarn kept breaking apart. Later I learned that because this yarn is woolen-spun it will tend to come apart easier than regular yarn. The Brooklyn Tweed site has a whole page pointing out the difference between woolen-spun and worsted-spun yarn.

The unique quality of Quarry yarn means it may pull apart easily.
The yarn will sometimes simply pull apart

If you don’t feel like reading that whole page, then here is what you need to know: If you get a skein of woolen-spun yarn that seems to be breaking easily, twist the yarn a bit before putting pressure on it, such as when joining in the round. I think maybe certain skeins may just be weaker than others, or maybe the company changed something. The dark yarn above pulled apart very easily, but when I knit with Quarry again, I didn’t have the problem of breaking.

Here is the Oxbow sweater I began knitting in Quarry yarn (color Geode). I had no trouble at all with the yarn splitting apart as I knit. I did however have lots of trouble with the pattern, so this garment has been frogged.

Knitting the Oxbow cardigan sweater
Oxbow sweater was eventually frogged!

This type of yarn does feel funny. It has a dry, lightweight feel, but not scratchy. The yarn knits up into a very lightweight garment that ends up being surprisingly warm. This makes the yarn perfect for sweaters, which could otherwise end up bulky and heavy. Any project knit with this yarn dries super fast as well.

This yarn will bloom, which means when it’s washed the fibers fill in the spaces between the stitches. That helps the knitting look more uniform and perfect.

Another plus for me is that it is completely made in the USA. In fact Brooklyn Tweed yarn is spun in Harrisville, New Hampshire – a location I am very familiar with. I often drove past signs for Harrisville on my way to Keene, and ended up visiting the Harrisville Designs Mill Store during a NH visit.

In closing, I am certainly no expert on yarn, but I’m coming to love the wools for their beautiful properties.

Oulu mitts knitting colorwork Fair Isle
Oulu Mitts in Shelter
Turtle Dove hand-knit sweater in Quarry
My new sweater poncho in Quarry – this replaced Oxbow
Krokur mittens pattern
Mittens in Shelter yarn
Wearing my Cobblestone Cardigan hand knit in gray wool
Cobblestone Cardigan in Shelter
mosaic knitting
Mosiac swatch in Shelter
Quarry Geode for Oxbow sweater
Quarry yarn in “Geode” color

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