A Machine-Knit Sweater with Fun Details

I know most of you are not machine knitters, but I love the designs that Donatella at Inspiration and Realisation comes up with so I wanted to share this one anyway.

What I love about her stuff is that she’s always inspired by the runways and things she sees in fashion, and shows how it’s possible for a home knitter to get the same look.

In this case she took on a Jil Sander sweater, which is relatively simple and could absolutely be knit by hand, too. The detail that’s so interesting in this piece is the little split neckline, which gives a plain sweater that’s perfect for lounging just a little more interest. This was actually her stepdaughter’s first machine knit project, and I think it looks great.

I hope looking at this inspires you to play with patterns, to look at what you like in garments off the rack, and to see if you can find a pattern or come up with a way to do what you like in your own projects.

Have you ever come up with a design or altered a pattern based on something you saw in fashion or on a rack in a store? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Inspiration and Realisation.]

Looking for knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Looking for pullover and sweater patterns? Check these books out.

Next Pattern:

Stitch dictionaries are a fun way to learn new-to-you knitting stitch patterns or to take a deep dive into a particular technique. Debbie Tomkies offers 100 cable stitch designs and thoughts on how to incorporate them into projects in her Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary.

Each stitch pattern is shown in a large swatch photo and with written and charted instructions. Any special stitches are included on the page. The stitches are rated on a difficulty scale of 1 to 3, and the pattern notes also indicate how many extra stitches you should add to a project if you’re going to work this cable (since cables pull the fabric closer together you need to compensate for that) as well as how many stitches and rows are in the repeat if you want to design a project yourself.

The cables are arranged into sections: classic cables, combinations, all-over panels, creative cables, motifs and panels and cabled edges and borders.

It’s fun to flip through the designs to think about projects you can add a single cable or two to or make with an allover cabled design. Or you could make swatches of different cables and sew them together into a pillow cover or a throw.

At the back of the book there’s a section on general cable knitting techniques, reading charts, working swatches and avoiding errors (though it mentions working the wrong number of rows between cable turns, it doesn’t share how to count rows between cables to avoid this mistake).

It also talks about how to design your own cables, combine cables in a project, choose the right yarn and needles and determine how many more stitches you need to cast on when working cables instead of stockinette stitch. There’s also a glossary of symbols and abbreviations you may find in cable knitting and other patterns.

The book provides a good overview of things you can do with cables, as well as some fun things you might not have tried like infinity cables and horizontal cables. It’s a great book for a designer who likes to work with cables or a knitter who wants to play with different stitches in their projects.

About the book: 176 pages, paperback, 100 stitch patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $26.99.

Next Pattern:

Comments

Have you read?