. . . wild rose: the cardigan . . .

The pattern for the cardigan has been released . . . The set of wild roses is complete.

Wild rose is a cardigan with an innovative construction in the same manner as her sister Babe.

There is no sewing, seaming or intarsia involved. First, the sleeves are worked bottom up featuring delicate branches and flowers in stranded colorwork.

Then the body is worked top down with a stretchy, leafy lace stitch pattern. Finally, stitches are picked up to work the button bands. The colorwork is charted only and is bundled in a separate pdf providing more tips on working fair isle and stranded knitting.

Sizes
XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
finished measurements chest: 33, 35½, 39¼, 44, 48, 54¼ “ (84, 90, 100, 112, 122, 138 cm)

Intended to be worn with positive ease (6 to 25 cm / 2½ to 10”). To decide which is the best size for you, measure your high bust (under the armpits) and check also your arm circumference. Model is wearing M with ± 10 cm / 4“ of positive ease.

What you’ll need
fingering / 4ply weight
MC1 (main color of the body) ± 950/1050/1150/1300/1400/1600 m (1050/1150/1260/1450/1550/1750 yards)
MC2 (main color of the sleeves) ± 470/500/550/600/660/750 m (520/550/600/660/720/820 yards)
CC1 (green in the sample): 45 to 90 m ( 50 to 100 yards)
and CC2 (white in the sample): 45 to 90 m (50 to 100 yards)
2.75 mm (US 2) circular needle for the cuffs and buttonbands
two 3.25 mm (US 3) circular needles and straight needles (optional)
3.5 mm (US 4) circular needle or double pointed needles to work the sections with the stranded flowers (if necessary)
3.5 mm (US 4) circular needle or straight needles to work the bottom part of the body
6 markers
6 buttons (diameter 18 mm / ¾” )

Gauge
stockinette with the 3.25 mm (US 3) needle and blocked: 28 sts and 40 rows
= 10 x 10 cm (4”x4”)

Find out more here

. . . wild roses . . .

At this moment, my new design: wild rose cardigan is being testknit here

It features delicate branches with some spring flowers on the sleeves. It is not that easy because as you can see there are three colors per round in the colorwork. There are several techniques to solve that problem and they will be explained in the pattern.

But then, I made a swatch with the same flowers in only two colors to show the effect to my testers…

I don’t like swatching, it feels like a waste of time. The best swatch one can make is a hat, isn’t it ? Never enough hats.

I used three different rests of green yarn from my stash… From a dark bottle green to a fresh yellowish green. And to make the gradient between the two colors I alternated the them in every round … Oh, I love the colors of that hat. The main color is the softest yarn ever. It is Misty Mina form the Natural Collection: 70% Alpaca, 20% Silk, 10% Cashmere goat…

And then I got kinda carried away, haha …

A hat, a pair of fingerless mitts and a doubled cowl: wild roses collection

Added a crocheted pompom on the hat like this

The four patterns will be collected in an e-book: wild roses. The cardigan will be added when the testknit is finished at the end of the month. Included are  tips on colorwork and fair isle, a tutorial on how to use Jenny’s cast on as a provisional cast on and on how to graft in a separate pdf: **Wild rose tips**.

The e-book is already available now at a discounted price.

Read more about them here, here and here.