Knit a Fancy Sweater with Pouf Sleeves

Generally when I share knitting patterns here they are for things that I would want to knit for myself. That is not the case with this sweater, which is a lot more feminine and detailed than the projects I typically work on.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of people out there who would love to knit such a garment, so it’s definitely worth sharing.

The Blackwell Bloom sweater knitting pattern, designed by Nicole Winer for Yarnspirations, reminds me of a cottagecore fantasy, something you’d wear to a tea party or while reading Emily Dickinson or one of the Brontes.

The pattern features a deep ribbed waistband that pulls in from the rest of the sweater, giving it a kind of corseted look. There’s a panel of lace above the ribbing and the rest of the body is worked in stockinette stitch. The neckline is worked with a foldover picot edging.

The sleeves have the same deep ribbing and lace patterns. The lace pattern is shown as a chart rather than being written out in words. The pattern is rated for intermediate knitters.

The pattern is worked flat in four pieces and uses worsted/medium weight yarn. It comes in six sizes, with an actual chest measurement ranging from 40.5 to 60.5 inches, or 103.5 to 153.5 cm.

The smaller sizes have pretty substantial positive ease, but the largest size says it goes up to a chest measurement of 62 inches, which would actually be negative ease, so just be mindful of your actual size and how you would like the sweater to fit when choosing a size.

If you want to check out the pattern and knit one for yourself you can find the free pattern on Yarnspirations. If you like you can also buy the suggested yarn, Patons Canadiana, direct from them. On the website the sweater is shown in black or white, but I think it would be fun in a different color, too.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

A Perfect Little Ribbed Sweater Knitting Pattern [Knitting]

Bring Some Texture to Your Sweater Knitting

Easy Sweater Knitting Patterns [Knitting]

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

Have you read?