Tag: pullover

New Knitting Project: Color-work Pullover Pattern

My next big knitting project for 2021 will be a colorwork, or Fair Isle, pullover sweater. I’ve been searching the internet and Ravelry for some ideas and now it’s time to narrow down the selections. It’s taken me months to write this post, and it’s already September, so I’ve already begun two sweaters (see below), and plan to make a third.

Hooked on Colorwork, Fair Isle Knitting

After knitting for a few years, I have decided that I really like colorwork knitting. Now that I have a couple of hats (Katie’s Kep), mittens, and fingerless mitts (Stellar Parallax) under my belt, I feel that a sweater is what I need to knit next. Once a year I need to make myself a sweater. This will really be sweater number two, after the Cobblestone, but the Cobblestone was not colorwork.

A Word About Steeking

A colorwork, or Fair Isle, sweater must be a pullover because a cardigan requires steeking. Once the sweater is knit, it is cut up the front to create the cardigan. Yikes, I am not ready for that yet.

Three Patterns For the Price of Two – Jennifer Steingass

Jennifer Steingass is a knitwear designer who offers lots of colorwork pullover patterns to knit. Also, she is currently (at the time I wrote this) selling her patterns at three for the price of two, or buy 2 get 1 free.

Because I have some Istex Lettlopi yarn on the way to my house from Iceland (that is so cool – LOL), I chose the following patterns to purchase. I’ve decided to knit with aran, or worsted, weight yarn for my next sweater. The links below go to Ravelry.

But beware… or be aware… not all of her color-work patterns are Fair Isle (using only 2 colors at one time), as some of them require three colors to be carried along one row of knitting. Of course, I can stay with two colors if I want and ignore adding a third. I find that trying to work with more than two colors can be annoying. I ran into that while knitting a few of the rows for the “Marshland” sweater.

Knitting Sweaters: On the Needles

Right now I am knitting two sweaters while I wait for my Lettlopi yarn to arrive. Below is my green Calliope and colorwork Meadow Moon.

  • Calliope sleeve knitting
    Calliope – Free pattern
  • knitting colorwork yoke of Meadow Moon pullover
    Meadow Moon

Marie Wallin’s Fair Isle Patterns

One of the first sweater patterns I saw at Ravelry was Marie Wallin’s Lovage. It is part of her Windswept Collection but the pattern can be purchased separately at Ravelry for approximately $8.87 US (at current writing). I’ve looked through the comments from knitters of this sweater and some people have had trouble. There is a lot of stranded knitting at the entire top and part of the sleeves. Then there is some braided work down the rest of the sleeve. It’s very pretty, but might be too difficult for me.

She also has a Meadow Collection and I love the Nigella Fair Isle pullover pattern, but wow, what a big project. It’s worth checking out her Free Patterns section too.

Sweaters Knit by Me

At the beginning of the year (2021)I knit the Cobblestone Cardigan and took it up to New Hampshire with me. I wore that sweater nearly every day! It’s big and soft and cozy. I won’t get the chance to wear it, or any sweater, until I can travel north.

Each time I knit a sweater, I learn a bit more. From the type of yarn, style, pattern writing, fit and mistakes to how much I like, or dislike, the end product. I’ve only knit five sweaters, one is a child’s size, two are pullovers and three are cardigans. I like cardigans best for wearing, although living in Florida means I seldom get to wear any type of sweater.

Each time I knit a sweater, or other item, I find more yarn I love. I keep it in mind for any upcoming projects. Each image below has a link at the bottom.

I’ve learned that I like knitting with wool and don’t like washable yarn. I’ve discovered what “pooling” is – see the Umpqua sweater, which I really dislike for many reasons, but it was my very first sweater! I knew literally nothing about sweater knitting. I will probably frog it at some point to re-use the yarn.

Sock yarn should be used for socks, IMO because when I want a sweater, I want it to be warm and cozy. Wool and natural fibers, tend to be cheaper also. I like that I know where the sheep / animals lived who provided it!

I Want to Travel to Cooler Locations!

I’d love to leave the state of Florida more often. I dislike living here, and there is so much of the US I have not seen.

After being unable to travel due to the Covid restrictions, which seem to drag on and on, I have decided I will not count on airplane travel any longer. Wearing a mask through the airport, on the plane and through a second airport, was very uncomfortable. I understand the concern, but the restrictions kept me from seeing two of my kids for over two years. This is unacceptable.

We will be buying an RV of some kind to make travel easier. I have cats and they will need to come along. But the most exciting thing is that we will be able to visit cooler locations. Then, I can wear my sweaters, hats, cowls, and mitts! I long for this.

Knitting a Bohemian Version of the Marshland Sweater

This is my bohemian version of the Marshland sweater pattern by Tin Can Knits. The pattern is in their book “Strange Brew”.

Once again I am knitting with yarn I really don’t like all that much. I purchased this yellow Arranmore yarn when the color was on sale because it is / was discontinued. I planned to use it to make a different sweater (Big Love) and when that never happened, I had all these skeins of yellow yarn hanging around.

Body of Marshland completed and on to the sleeves

Since I am not crazy about this yarn, and generally I don’t like a pullover, I was knitting this for practice and to use up some yarn.

The Marshland is knit top down, with the ribbing at the neck added last. There is a long colorwork area on the yoke and chest that carries over to the sleeves. I changed it up a bit and tried to use up some stash yarn.

Picking up stitches is not something I am all that good at and when it came to doing so for the sleeves, I had to pick up and knit in pattern! I had changed the colorwork pattern, so had to follow my own changes to continue onto the sleeves.

  • Marshland in yellow
  • Colorwork pullover sweater Marshland pattern
    Before washing
  • Marshland sweater in yellow Arranmore yarn

What I Learned From Knitting the Marshland Pattern

This pattern is fairly easy to follow, but it needs short rows to raise the back. It seems there really is no front or back. The design seems to be meant as a knit for men. For that reason it is not super comfortable. I may add onto the neck.

Marshland pullover
Wearing my Marshland on a cool Florida day

I chose this pattern because of my yarn weight, but it’s not the prettiest pattern in the book – it’s manly. That is one reason I changed the colorwork.

The Arranmore yarn is also very strange. I have washed the sweater and I think it will take days to dry. I would not buy this yarn again, and it is discontinued I believe. No wonder.

In the end, the sweater fits, but I don’t like the bottom ribbing or the fact that the colorwork at the bottom of the body tends to pull in. It may block out.

I had trouble with the yoke increases and they still seem to be creating a lumpy row of stitches. That could block out too. On my first try, I added too many increases and had to rip out many rows.

This one is a “never knit again” but it’s mostly due to my yarn and the masculine look. I did not enjoy knitting three colors in one round either. I love Tin Can Knits and will try another pattern from the book one day.

First Time Ripping Out Many Rows of Knitting

I’ve begun knitting the Marshland pullover sweater by Tin Can Knits – see the pattern link at the end of this page. The pattern is in the “Strange Brew” book. I chose this pattern because I had worsted weight yarn to use.

Something is wrong
I have too many stitches

Because the pattern colorwork looks to me like it was meant more for a man – it’s a unisex design, I decided to change up the knitting with other color patterns. The pink rows and the last yellow and green rows are different from the suggested pattern. However, all that was ripped back and I didn’t re-do it the same way.

The yellow Arranmore yarn was purchased to knit “Big Love” – a cardigan. That pattern was confusing, so I never knit it. I’m using other stash yarn, and some is not exactly the same weight as the Arranmore, but oh well.

How to unravel knitting mistakes
First time doing this – pick up right hand side of each knit stitch, all the way around. This will be the new starting row.

The “Make One” Rows

The pattern calls for places where M1 is needed – that is “make one” – and a stitch must be added. There is no suggestion about how to make a stitch, so you’d better have a favorite way! (HINT: Use the backwards loop method.)

On the very last increase row of the yoke, I somehow added too many M1’s and ended up with way too many stitches. I didn’t realize this, and kept knitting…. HINT / NOTE TO SELF: Count your stitches right after that last M1 row…!!!!!

In my photo above, my mistake row was in the brown section just below the pink. So I picked up stitches above the pink rows to start again. Everything below the needle was removed.

How to Rip Back Many Rows

I’ve never had to fix a knitting mistake as big as this one. I could not simply un-knit some stitches. I needed to rip many rows out. So I watched a couple of really bad videos, but the gist of it was to use a needle to pick up the right side of each V knit stitch. This has to be done slowly so none are missed. Also be sure you stay on the correct / same row!

But first, I pulled out the 32 inch needle I’d been knitting with – that gave me the ability to try on my sweater (very first photo). I used the same needle I’d been using to pick up the new stitches. I did this on a non-colorwork row because it was easiest. I began at the BOR marker and continued to the end. Now I had all new stitches on my needle.

Then I had to unravel all that previous knitting and rewind the balls. I was left with this (photo below) and ready to begin again. When I got to that M1 row where my error occurred, I used stitch markers to help me count.

Mistake removed and ready to knit again
Ready to try again

Below is the same yoke on my second knit. This time I followed the pattern’s suggested colorwork design. The sleeve stitches have been put on holders and all counts are perfect. So onward I knit!

Marshland yoke colorwork second try
This time I counted stitches

Stranded colorwork knitting is fun to do, and keeps a project interesting. Katie’s Kep, the Turkish Watchcap, and the Triple Patterned Watchcap were hats I enjoyed doing in Fair Isle, aka stranded colorwork. The only other sweater I knit like this is the Umpqua and it was my first sweater.

I’ve come across one row in the Marshland design where three colors were used, but all the others are two color strands.

Click here for the Marshland sweater pattern download at Ravelry.

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