The Front or The Back?

Lynn has a beautiful new sweater. Meet Arboreal from Jenn Steingass. Lynn has been talking about this pattern forever so I’m glad we finally convinced her to knit it. You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry. Lynn used Lore from the Fibre Co. and raved about the yarn.

Arboreal is worked seamlessly from the top down. The stranded yoke is worked and then short row shaping is added on the back to shape the shoulders and neckline. The sleeves and body are separated and worked top down. Optional, gentle waist shaping makes for a feminine fit. It’s fun and meditative to watch the leaves grow as the yoke is knitted. The chart is easy to follow and memorize and is suitable for a beginner, calling for only two colors. This design lends itself to many types of yarn and color combinations: Choose 2 colors for simplicity, create a faded effect in the yoke background, or simulate a turning leaves effect by creating a gradient with colors of your choice.

Lynn brought the sweater in yesterday and showed it to me but I forgot to get pictures. She suggested waiting until it is blocked. I vetoed that suggestion - now you can see pre and post blocking and why blocking is necessary. The colourwork lies flat but with blocking it will lie really flat. 

It was really cold outside so we went really fast.

This is Seve from Isabell Kraemer. What a gorgeous sweater. You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry - I did and am considering it for my next project. Or maybe Wannietta’s next project. 😘

Photos © Isabell Kraemer.

Seve is worked seamlessly from the top down. Both the front and the back are worked in Stockinette stitch with a slip stitch pattern in the center. There is no difference in shaping with this sweater which means that you can wear the wide pattern panel either way. Knitting starts with the cast on of the upper back (shoulders and neck). Once the short row shaped shoulder slope is done, the back is worked flat to underarm. To work the front to the same length, the shoulder stitches are picked up from the cast on edge of the back and the front neck is cast on. At underarm both front and back are joined to work the body top down in rounds to the bottom hem (optional split hem instructions are given). For the long sleeve version, stitches are then picked up around the arm openings to work them top down in rounds. No finishing required.

What yarn??? Isabell suggests a worsted weight yarn - your options are endless.

We did a social media experiment today - a new newsletter went out this morning. It went to those who have purchased online or created an account on the website. These people opted in to receive information from us. If you have an account you can go in and change your settings to receive this email if you’d like.

Here is a screen shot of part of it. We are going to try and send these out once a week. They are very short and will feature only one item. Remember when we did a weekly deal on the blog? We could use the newsletter for that. We could use the newsletter to announce the arrival of a new product or a new technique. Maybe an upcoming event. 

These newsletters will be in addition to the regular newsletter that we do monthly.

The cone is off and someone is very happy but he’s a monster. He’s into everything. Last night he got my ball of Dream State. It was across the living room. He only likes the good stuff. I’m going to sign off so that I can knit while he is sleeping.