I’ve wanted to try a top down sweater for AGES but never found the right pattern or had the right needles etc.
But now the excuses are over!
I bought my first pattern from Ravelry (after years of only looking at the freebies!) from Jennifer Steingass. I’m doing the Dreyma Sweater in brown and cream.
And what’s more it’s my first garment in natural fibres which haven’t been dyed.
The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners in an aran weight. I chose a dark brown and a nice cream in their Jacob Aran range. It’s 100% British wool and as far as I know it hasn’t been dyed.
You can get it here from The Knitting Network if you want, I love the feel of it. As someone who usually knits with acrylic, it’s nice to try something a little different!
I had to buy a few sets of needles as my local yarn shops only do 80cm circulars…I mean, there are so many other sizes we need! Don’t people ask for the 40cm, 60cm or 100cm ones?!!!
I found some Addi circular ones from Wool Warehouse online, they’re a bit more expensive than the ones I’ve been used to, but OMG they feel so much better to knit with!
I’ve done the collar so far, did that in an afternoon and then realised that going from 40cm to 80cm was too much so ordered a 60cm circular needle and we’ll see how that goes. It just came in the post today from Wool Warehouse, so they have super fast shipping for a regular shipping fee.
I don’t knit in the round much so I’m sure it’ll be fiddly until I increase a few more stitches for the yoke when I can use bigger needles.
I’m loving it so far though!
Here’s what it looks like at the moment:
I’m onto the first round of the yoke except I’ve done it wrong and will have to unpick the white stitches.
I’m kind of stuck with the ‘No Stitch’ squares on the colour work pattern. I don’t understand how to actually go about doing a no stitch!! That sounds ridiculous but do I slip stitches or what? I’ve sen instructions online that tell you to ignore the stitches and just stitch what you get told too…but then the yarn must stretch over the stitches that haven’t been stitched?
Where is that emoji with the head exploding? My mind isn’t blown out of awe it’s being blown at how simple yet confusing this is for me. Never mind, I’ll figure it out.
I’m still loving having something in the round to work on even if there are a few awkward bits.
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Woolly Orbit 