Category Archives: seamless

Just Chill

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I have been a lurker on the Contiguous Sleeves group on Ravelry since a long time. I was introduced to this technique by Elena Nodel when I test knitted her Tomboy Vest. Since then, I wanted to knit more sweaters made with this technique, but as it always happens, never had the time. When Just Chill was put out for testing, which uses a combo of saddle shoulders with contiguous sleeves, I utilized this great opportunity to learn this technique better. Of course the handsome sweater was a factor too.

Just Chill is seamless and knit top down. The two toned look, combined with the saddle shoulders make this sweater very handsome and masculine. The pattern is beginner friendly, with clear instructions. The only tricky part for a beginner could be the attached I-cord for the buttonbands. Well, what is the fun in knitting a sweater which doesn’t offer any challenge.

I chose Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Platinum and Willow. I even had perfect buttons to go with it. Love the wooden look of the buttons. I am racking my brain to recall where I bought this, but it is drawing a blank.

This sweater is headed to Ahmedabad to meet its recipient, Vihaan, a handsome little nephew of mine. He is the latest addition to my huge, extended family and this is my welcome gift to him. My cousin lost her first baby just before she was due for delivery, so this baby is so much more special for her and for us all. Here is wishing Vihaan a long and fruitful life in this world.

New Pattern: Penstemon

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I am a great admirer of designers who churn out beautiful shawls, one after the other. I love the delicate lace and the airy fabric, but never had the courage to design one myself. On one of the casual page-turning of a Japanese lace stitchionary book, my eyes stopped at a particular stitch. I loved the combination of curved outline and the straight lines in the body. I started fantasizing about converting that into a shawl. After a long journey from swatching the stitch, adding a border and another transition lace stitch, Penstemon was born.

 

Penstemon is knit bottom-up, starting from the lace edge. The stockinette body is shaped into a crescent using short rows. The lace part comes as a chart and written instructions too. I knit this using the gorgeous SweetGeorgia Merino Silk Lace which is soft and squishy and has a beautiful shade of colors. Using fingering weight will yield a bigger shawl (and yardage will vary too).

Ravelry Pattern: Penstemon by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: SweetGeorgia Merino Silk Lace
Needle Size: US #6 4 mm

New Pattern: Grown-up Hira

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Hira is light and breezy and is great for layering on a cold summer evening. It can be worn over a pretty evening dress or make it casual by pairing with jeans and a tee. The beads on the collar and the sleeves jazz up the cardigan turning the simple cardigan into a special-occasion-wear. I just love the beads on the sleeves, if I say so myself.

Hira is knit from the top-down with raglan sleeves. After the body-sleeves split, the body is worked flat with waist shaping. Sleeves are knit in the round. Stitches for the collar are picked and worked flat, knit to the double the width with a garter ridge, over which the collar gets folded and sewn in place. Don’t worry, the sewing is on the wrong side, so not publicly visible at all.

Grown-up Hira is women’s version of Hira, so you can make a mother-daughter cardigan if you like.

Ravelry Pattern: Grown-up Hira by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Madelinetosh Pashmina
Needle Size: US #6 4 mm for the body

New Pattern: Dyvest

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Dyvest is a unisex vest with an attractive cable stitch pattern down the front. The Y-shaped staghorn cable divides into a similar half-staghorn stitch on either side of the V-neck, hence the name Dyvest.

Ravelry Pattern: Dyvest by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Bessie May Nettle in Coal colorway
[Aran/10 Ply; 70% Wool; 30% Plant Fiber; 87 yards/50 gms]
Needle Size: US #6 4 mm

The staghorn and half-staghorn are simple to knit with just 3 rows of cable and plain wrong side rows. Both cables are charted and written instructions are also provided.


The vest is knit bottom-up in round  until the armholes and then the fronts and back are knit flat. The shoulders are joined using three needle bind-off. Armbands and neckbands are knit after picking up stitches.

Gauge:
16 sts x 22 rows = 4″ in Stockinette Stitch
20 sts x 20 rows = 3.5″ in Staghorn Cable stitch pattern

Sizing:
Finished Chest Measurement:
17.5 [19.5, 21.5, 23.5] [25.5, 27.5, 29.5] inches
Vest is intended to be worn with 1-2″ of positive ease.

I knit the prototype using Bessie May Nettle, which is a blend of wool and plant fiber. This is the first time I worked with a plant fiber and I was blown away by the stitch definition – the cables are neat and crisp. I had to work on the fronts a dozen times, so I can vouch for ‘froggability’ of the yarn too, boys is it sturdy. With the main color as dark grey and the light grey heather, Coal colorway is an excellent choice for men’s and boys’ knits.

New Patterns: Punto Cowl & Hat

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I am very happy to announce the release of Punto Cowl & Hat patterns which are released as part of Malabrigo Quickies. From Malabrigo Yarns website: Quickies are small, fast projects which require only one or two skeins of yarn. You could knit a small cowl and a hat in one skein each of MC and CC yarn. These patterns can be bought individually or as an ebook.

While I love variegated yarns,  I don’t like how muddy they look when used with cables or lace. I am not a big fan of pooling in stockinette stitch either, so the obvious step was to pair it with a plain yarn and make something colorful with it. Punto stitch pattern (as I would like to call it) is knit with one yarn per row (no carrying the other yarn) and the colorful CC yarn shows up as little specks or dots against the MC yarn.

Punto Cowl comes in 3 sizes. Small: 20 inches wide, a snug fit around your neck, Medium: 28 inches wide, a loose, comfortable fit around your neck and Long: 44 inches wide, where the cowl can be worn doubled up. All sizes are 8 inches high. Width and height can be easily modified by working more repeats of the stitch pattern.

Punto Hat comes in 4 sizes. S [M, L, XL]: 18 [20, 22, 24] inches. These are the finished sizes. Choose the size which give you no ease or an inch of negative ease.

Punto Hat
Punto Cowl

Punto ebook
Yarns Suggested: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Natural Colorway
Malabrigo Seleccion Privada in Code B Colorway
Needle Size: US #6 4 mm

New Pattern: Texo Pullover

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Texo (Latin word Texo for ‘weave, twine together’) is a take on the traditional crewneck pullover with a cabled pouch added for extra warmth for the hands. The cabled pouch adds interest and texture to the otherwise plain pullover. The i-cord edges on the pouch give it a neat finishing touch. The top-down seamless construction makes this an ideal pullover to try it on as you go and also to modify the body and sleeves length.

Ravelry Pattern: Texo Pullover by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Knit Picks Swish DK
Needle Size: US #5 3.75 mm for the body
US #7 4.5 mm for the cable pouch

New Pattern: Filo

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FILO are FIngerless GLOves with a simple and attractive all-over colowork pattern. FILO keep a toddler’s hands warm, leaving the fingers free for the child’s busy exploration. These unisex fingerless gloves are ideal for knitters who want to attempt colorwork since every row is knit with a single color. These are great stash busters to use up the left over sock yarn from other projects.

Ravelry Pattern: Filo by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Knit Picks Palette
Needle Size: US #3 3.25 mm

New Pattern: Just Hatched

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When I made a baby blanket for my newest nephew, Atharv, his mother immediately asked me if I can make a newborn sized sweater to go with the blanket. Finding newborn size clothes that fit is hard enough and dear Atharv was a bit underweight at birth, so finding a good fitting cardigan for him was even more difficult. Atharv’s mother liked the soft green color and wanted a sweater in the same one.

I had this idea for a baby cardigan from a long time and realized if I don’t get around to making it now, then it will never get done. I like the simplicity and usefulness of raglan cardigans: top-down, seamless construction, try it on as you go, easy to modify length if need be. I added a wide border of ringlet stitch, a stitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s Treasury, to compliment the plain stockinette body. And that is how Just Hatched came into existence.

Ravelry Pattern: Just Hatched by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Plymouth Yarn Encore Colorspun Worsted
Needle Size: US #9 5.5 mm

New Pattern: Tanvi

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I won some gorgeous Indigodragonfly yarn when Kim hosted a giveaway to mark her anniversary. Ever since I held that yarn in my hands, I knew I will have to make my own design out of it. I was a budding designer then and neither had the skills nor the experience to design, so this yarn was treasured for future use. The right time came a few months back and Tanvi was born.

Tanvi was actually planned to be released as part of Knitcircus Summer 2012 issue, but as my luck would have it, the magazine had to close down. So, I decided to self-publish Tanvi.

Ravelry Pattern: Tanvi by Anjali M.
Yarn Suggested: Indigodragonfly Merino Sock
Needle Size: US #2.5 3 mm

Tanvi is a circular yoke, seamless cardigan and is the perfect solution to keep off the spring’s morning chill. True to its name, the cardigan is delicate with eyelets on the yoke and lacy diamonds on the body. It is a great way of showcasing the single skein of hand-dyed sock yarn lying around in the stash.

The cardigan is knit flat from the neck down with circular yoke. After the desired yoke depth is reached, sleeve stitches are put on holders and the body is worked. It comes in sizes 6 months to size 10. This is a great way of using up your ever growing sock yarn stash.

Keep tuned as I have planned a giveaway which is coming soon.

New Pattern: Swirl Wrist Bag

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My knitter friends in Bangalore aka Bangalore Ravelry Brigade had a Potluck lunch planned last week. In the last minute, I was asked if I could bring along a handmade gift. I don’t sew (which is considered faster than knitting), and I am not that good at crocheting that I could just whip up something in a hurry, so that left only knitting I could fall back on. I didn’t have enough time to search for patterns on Ravelry, sort through them and finalize on one, so I took the easy way out and created something on my own and that is how Swirl Wrist Bag was born.

Swirl is a seamless wrist bag with garter stitch base and slanting eyelets on the body. It comes with three options for the strap: garter, stockinette and i-cord. Swirl is quick to knit and is perfect as a project bag for knitters and a wristlet bag for muggles non-knitters. It is ideal for newbie knitters who want to try out provisional cast on, lace and i-cords. The instructions for lace stitch pattern is provided as written instructions and chart.

SIZES
One size: 7” base and 9” height.

MATERIALS
Any Heavy/Worsted Weight Yarn

GAUGE
18 sts and 20 rows = 4” in
Stockinette stitch
Gauge is not critical for this project

To download the pattern, click on the image above or on the button below.