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Thursday 17 September 2015

A casual jumper inspired by the beach ...

If you're in the market for a super fast, super easy project that you could complete over a weekend, then this is it! And if you wanted to make it even easier and even more straightforward you could stick to just one colour and save all that messing around with different colours and darning in of loose ends that comes with stripes.

I've made it for my favourite sassy eleven year-old, who's about 4'11", thin as a pencil and a bit of a tomboy. It's got a short body length that's designed to skim the top of her jeans and, with a white T underneath, it should look relaxed and casual.





It's knit using Debbie Bliss Delphi cotton chunky yarn in colours: 55002 (silver - although it looks more sandy than silver to me), 55007 (teal) and 55008 (pool). I chose them because I thought they combined the colours of the seashore rather beautifully. I'd just been to Lyme Regis, which must have been my inspiration when I bought them.  The yarn is 100% cotton, and has been dyed so that there is a variation in the colour within the yarn, which creates an interesting effect over the course of the garment. Were you to use just one colour I'm sure you'd be pleased with the graduated colour effect that the single yarn would produce. It also has the advantage of knitting up quickly on 8 mm needles. So it was a nice quick contrast to my last project, the Summer Breeze cardigan, knit with 4 ply wool.



The young Miss who's getting this has got a 30"/ 76 cm chest. The sleeves are knit to a length of 16½"/ 42 cm and the body measures 17"/ 43 cm long. In order to make the jumper to these dimensions I used 12, 50g balls of Debbie Bliss's Delphi cotton yarn, using 4 of each of the three colours listed above (55002, 55007 and 55008). My tension worked out as 18 rows x 13 stitches for 10cm x 10cm swatch. If you want to adjust the dimensions to make a larger or smaller fit, all you need do is add a few extra stitches as there aren't any pattern repeats to complicate the process.



Anyway if you'd like to give it a go here's my pattern:

The Back

Using 8mm/ US size 11 needles cast on 48 stitches.

Knit the first 3 rows. This produces the simple edging, which is a contrast to the main body of the jumper.



Purl the fourth row, and then carry on alternating between knit odd rows and purl even rows in stocking stitch until the back is 17"/ 43 cm, or as long as you'd like it to be. I knit the stripes of this jumper, changing colour after I'd knit four rows i.e. joining the new colour on the (right side) 5th, 9th, 13th ... rows.

On my tension I knit 70 rows before I shaped the neck.

Shape the neck:

1st Row (right side row) : (Row 71 on my tension) : Knit 14, cast off 20, and knit to the end of the row. (14 stitches should remain on the needles)
2nd Row (wrong side row): Purl 14.
3rd Row: Cast off 2 stitches and knit to the end of the row.
4th Row: Cast off remaining 12 stitches.

Rejoin wool to work the right shoulder.
2nd Row (wrong side row): Cast off 2 and purl to the end.
3rd Row: Knit all 12 stitches.
4th Row: Cast off remaining 12 stitches.

I don't know whether it'll be much of a help or not, but here's the sketch that I did when I was mapping out the back:



The Front

Using 8mm/ US size 11 needles cast on 48 stitches.

Knit the first 3 rows. This produces the simple edging, which matches that on the back of the jumper.

Purl the fourth row, and then carry on alternating between knit odd rows and purl even rows in stocking stitch to match the back until the front is 10"/ 25 cm, or as long as you'd like it to be, and then start shaping the V-neck.

Shape the V-neck:

1st Row (right side row): Knit 24 stitches. Turn.
2nd Row (wrong side row): Cast off 1 stitch and purl to the end.
Carry on as normal in stocking stitch, but decreasing one stitch at the beginning of the fourth row (wrong side) until only 12 stitches remain. Then carry on until the front right side is the same length as the back.

Cast off.

Rejoin the wool to complete the front left side.

1st Row (right side row): cast off 1 and knit to the end.
Carry on as normal in stocking stitch, but decreasing one stitch at the beginning of the fourth row (right side) until only 12 stitches remain. Then carry on until the front left side is the same length as the front right side and the back.

And here's my sketch for the front:


The sleeves (both the same)


Using 8mm/ US size 11 needles cast on 24 stitches.

Knit the first 3 rows. This produces the simple edging to match that on the body of the jumper.

Carry on in stocking stitch (i.e. knitting the odd rows and purling the even ones) working stripes to match those on the body.

On the 8th row increase two stitches by purling into the front and back of the first and last stitch of the row. Repeat this 2 stitch increase every 8 rows until you have 38 stitches and the sleeve measures 42 cm or whichever length and width you'd like it to have.

Cast off.

And for the sake of completeness here's my back-of-the-envelope design for the sleeves:


Making up

Gently block the component parts overnight and sew up.

To finish the neck work a row of single crochet around the neck opening, starting at the back, with right side facing using a 6mm crochet hook.


And that's about it: you're done!

All the best for now,

Bonny x

3 comments:

  1. I'm not sewing, knitting, crochet, etc....inclined at all. No talent for that stuff but I do admire those who can. This is a nice sweater. I like the colors and the style.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Like Ida, I'm not sewing, knitting, etc... never tried but I am sure I would not be good at all.

    ReplyDelete