Knit a Sweater (Sort of) Like Tom Daley’s

By now you’ve probably seen the amazing Olympics sweater Tom Daley was knitting during his time in Tokyo. From what I can gather from pictures, it looks like he did the colorwork — a class British Olympic team logo and rings on the back, a British flag, and GBR on the sleeves, and the symbols for Tokyo in Japanese on the front — were done in duplicate stitch rather than stranded colorwork or intarsia.

I saw on Facebook that British yarn company Wool and the Gang said the sweater itself was their Blake Minimal Cardigan, which makes sense because he made the original Blake Cardigan for his husband’s birthday.

It’s a bulky V-neck cardigan with no buttonholes, so it is actually a pretty fast knit, though most of us wouldn’t knit it as fast as Daley did.

If you don’t want to knit that exact pattern, I’ve scoured the Internet for similar possibilities.

Sixth Street by Amy Miller has buttons (and pockets!) but you could leave both off for a simple bulky V-neck cardigan that’s a lot like the one he made. (This pattern is available on Ravelry.)

This vintage men’s V-neck cardigan pattern from Etsy is similar to the original in that it uses bulky yarn, but the shoulder shaping is different and it has buttons. There’s also an option for a shawl collar if you’re into that.

Martin Storey’s Stour is a buttoned V-neck cardigan designed for men. It also uses bulky yarn and can be found on Ravelry.

This longer-length open Rathnelly Cardigan from Yarnspirations uses a sort of textured yarn but you could use something smoother if you want to do colorwork on it.

Caitlin Hunter’s Reluctant Homeschooler also has buttons and pockets but could be worked without them. It uses bulky yarn and has a wide range of sizes to fit men and women. You can grab it from Ravelry as well.

Daisy and Peace’s easy cardigan has the relaxed fit of the original, but more of a cropped length (which you could change) and it’s worked in lightweight yarn. This one is on Etsy.

Maritsa from Berroco Yarns (designed by Amy Christoffers) is a little more structured and has shorter sleeves, but it’s a really pretty basic that could be altered to have full-length sleeves if you like

Sarah Hatton’s Tyburn is longer than the original but has the same relaxed fit. It’s a free download on Ravelry.

The closest thing offered by Lion Brand is actually a super bulky cardigan called Back to Basics, which is available as a free pattern or in a kit.

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a fun project to play with brioche knitting, check out the My Buddy knitting pattern/recipe from Casuarinagirl on Ravelry.

This project doesn’t include a brioche tutorial, so it’s good to know the basics, including how to increase and decrease, but you can always practice on a swatch before you start the project if you want.

The design is meant to be flexible for the yarn you have and what size and shape of project you want to make, from a skinny neck scarf to a asymmetrical triangle or a more classic triangular shape.

The shape you end up with will depend on how often you increase (and then decrease on the other side). The pattern mentions increasing every fourth, fifth or six row (and the one shown increases and decreases every sixth row) but you can do it even more or less often depending on the shape you’re looking for an how much yarn you want to use.

You can work to whatever depth you would like, or use almost half of the yarn you have set aside for the project and begin decreasing.

When it comes to yarn, she used three strands of yarn held together to make a super fluffy shawl, but you can work it with whatever yarn and needles you like to make a wrap that’s all your own.

If you are new to brioche (or to increasing and decreasing in brioche) it might be a good idea to make a little scarf or head wrap first before diving in to the bigger pattern, just so you’re more comfortable with the technique. Or just give it a go; nothing about brioche knitting is that difficult. (But you might want to use a lifeline because I find brioche hard to rip out or fix mistakes in properly.)

You can grab the free pattern for the Buddy Wrap on Ravelry.

[Photo: Casuarinagirl]

Next Pattern:

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