Knit a Pastel Plaid Sweater

There’s just something about plaid that makes it a classic for any time of year in just about any colors you can imagine.

The lines on the Piet Sweater from kolibri by johanna give a modern take on plaid with bright, poppy colors and a hint of pastel.

The project is worked with two fingering weight yarns held together (an alpaca and a mohair for a bit of fuzz) or you can use any DK weight yarn that gets you the correct gauge.

The pattern is worked from the top down, mostly in the round, and uses short row shaping to shape the sleeves, which are knit directly onto the body and cuffed with ribbing to emphasize the balloon shape.

Horizontal stripes are knit as you go, while the vertical stripes are added at the end with a crochet hook.

It is meant to be oversized but also cropped, though you can adjust the length if you like.

The pattern comes in seven sizes, and uses a main color and four contrasting colors. The actual chest measurement of the finished sweater ranges from 41 to 55.5 inches, or 104-141 cm, and is meant to be worn with 6 to 8 inches/15 to 20 cm of positive ease.

The designer rates the project as for advanced knitters, but if you have some garments under your belt and are comfortable with short rows and a little bit of crochet you should be fine.

The pattern is available in English, French and German on Ravelry. There’s also a cardigan version of the same style of sweater if you’d rather have a cardigan than a pullover. The sample of that one has a much more toned down, pastel color palette so it’s interesting to see how the pattern looks in different yarns. (There are quite a few projects for both sweaters on Ravelry if you want to see how it works in different colors.)

Photo: kolibri by johanna

I love the look of mesh tops for summer, but I don’t know that I would ever actually wear one that’s full of giant holes, even though I admit they look cool (in both senses of the word) on other people.

What I would wear, though, is something that’s still lacy but maybe a little bit more subdued, like this chevron lace knit top from Yarnspirations.

This easy to knit T-shirt style top is worked flat in two pieces from the bottom up, using and easy lace pattern that’s a repeat of 10 stitches and four rows (though the wrong side rows are just purled, so there’s only two rows you need to learn the pattern on).

It has little cap sleeves that are worked as part of the top by casting on stitches where you need them.

If you’re new to lace knitting this is a good one to try because the pattern includes both written and charted instructions, and the only skills you need are yarn over, knit two together, slip slip knit and slip 1 knit 2 together pass the slipped stitch over (which makes a centered decrease).

There are four size options available (which they claim is enough to cover XS to 5XL), with finished chest measurements ranging from 38.5 inches (that’s 98 cm) to 59 inches, or 150 cm. The amount of ease would vary widely depending on your size and the size garment you choose. For example the largest size is said to fit a chest measurement from 5258 inches/132-147.4 cm, which gives you a range of ease from 1-7 inches, or 2.5 to 17.78 cm, depending on your size. Just something to be aware of when you think about how you want it to fit.

The project calls for Red Heart Cotton Breeze yarn, which isn’t a yarn I’ve tried yet, but it’s a DK weight acrylic and cotton blend, which should make a lightweight top that’s great for summer.

Grab the free pattern from Yarnspirations.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

Have you read?