Pattern: cobbled together from what I learned from Fugl and Elizabeth Zimmermann’s fabulous teachings
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Country Classic in black for the body, with some Cascade Eco wool, Lopi, and handspun Alpaca/Coopworth wool in the yoke. The collar is lined in silvery cashmere.
Needles: Size 10 US Addi Turbo circular for magic loop knitting, plus a size 8 US needle for collar lining.
Gauge: 14 sts. and 20 rows = 4″
Size: 39″ chest measurement for a 40″ chest (Mr. HelloYarn likes stuff tight!)
Started: about a month ago
Finished: this morning

The Making:

This was a stash-buster and I used a variety of yarns in wool, alpaca, and cashmere in weights from sport to bulky, some doubled, like the Country Classic (worsted) in the body and some single-stranded, like the bulky lopi and handspun in the yoke. The resulting sweater is more like a jacket, which was the intention. We’re freezing in Boston!

The pattern for the sweater was made following EZ’s percentage system and her short rows at the bottom back and the back of the neck. Both worked beautifully and solved the back ride-up, which is a common problem with Mr. HelloYarn’s sweaters, and the front neck strangling, which can be a problem with plain circular neck openings. I didn’t do that shaping with Fugl and it’s not a problem with the fit for me, but this sweater was strangling Mark, so I ripped the collar and added the short row shaping, which solved the problem beautifully.

This yoke closely followed the yoke decreases in Fugl, which are very similar to EZ’s yoke decreases, but splits the first decrease into two stages, followed by two other decreases near the collar. There are two decreases centered in each of the black/charcoal vertical shapes in the yoke, serving to both decrease as needed for the yoke and shape the motifs. Here’s a look at the chart so you can see what I mean. The little inverted V shapes are K2TOGs and the black vertical lines are where stitches have been decreased away. This yoke gets you from where you join the arms to the body all the way to the collar.

This was knit in the round with a 2 stitch purl ditch knitted in the center front for zipper placement. I machine-sewed twice through each stitch (4 vertical sewing lines) and cut down the center, sewing the zipper in by hand and flipping the zipper facing back and tacking that down to the inside of the sweater. I think I’ll go back and stitch a length of ribbon along the edge for strength and to contain any fuzzy ends, because they want to pop out. The machine sewing secured the quite slippery single ply Country Classic really, really well. I was slightly surprised and pleased. You know you love the cutting photos.

The collar was knit in 1×1 ribbing, then the cashmere yarn was attached, a purl turning row knit, and a stockinette stitch lining done on needles 2 sizes smaller. The lining was folded under and live stitches tacked down to the inside of the collar.

I’m totally jealous and will have to sew the zipper into Fugl tonight so I can wear my sweater, too!

The knitting’s done.

This yoke is such a mishmash. There’s bulky, super bulky, heavy worsted, some doubled, some single-stranded, and it works just fine. The decreasing I was unsure about worked out great: there aren’t any lumps or bumps or humps at all. I made an error across a whole row and left it in because it made the patterning more interesting.

The pale grey curling bit at the top is a cashmere collar lining. Nothing but the best for my man’s neck!

Now all that’s left to do is wash it and watch it dry for a week. Oh, and the zipper installation! How could I forget that? I’ll just have a zipper party (It’s always a party when the sewing machine comes out, no?) and do both this and Fugl.

Everyone have a lovely big long holiday weekend. Eat lots of pie!! I’ll be back next week with a shop update on Tuesday.

For Maryse, who doesn’t like it when I tease her with half an inch of yoke:

I think I like it. We’re going to be SO dorky in our matchy sweaters. This yoke is my first experiment with large amounts of decreasing in pattern. I’ve incorporated two large decreases into the yoke so far, both in the large black teardrop-y shapes, so that I’m both decreasing for the fit of the sweater and to narrow the teardrop-y shapes more subtly than narrowing by a stitch on each side. It was hard to visualize both on paper and in a swatch, so I was pleased by how it worked out on a large scale. At about 3 sts. per inch, it’s worth it to just wing it. This yoke makes me wish I knit at lightning speed, though. I want to see this done- now!

Shop Stuff:

I’ve got a mini sweatshop operating here now (it’s Mr. HelloYarn with a scale on the new giant kitchen table) and fiber samplers are coming out of our ears. They’ve even got their own category in the shop, now. I’ve also added combs and handcards and a new spinning fiber- South African Fine Wool top, which is just gorgeous. It comes in 8 oz. and 1 lb. bags with a spindle kit option. I’m running off right now to make a dye kit with it, too. We’re ready for you, holiday shoppers!