Play with Textures in the Doodles Sweater Knitting Pattern

I know summer is still a ways off where I live, but I’m already starting to think about/long for the garments I’ll want to knit and wear during the warmer seasons. If you happen to live somewhere it’s already the warmer season, maybe this one is for you.

The Doodles sweater by Yumiko Alexander strikes me as warm weather knitting because it’s semi translucent, light and airy. They used a yarn that’s a silk and cotton blend, which is perfect for luxurious summer knitting.

The pattern is worked flat in rectangles from the top down, and uses different stitches and techniques to play with different textures. It’s worked in knits, purls, eyelets and slipped stitches, sometimes with two strands of yarn held together and sometimes with a single strand for a more ethereal look.

Sleeves are optional and look to be knit separately from the body. You can choose more of a kimono-style sleeve or a sleeve that’s gathered at the cuff, and you can make the sleeves as long or as short as you like.

It’s a boxy boat neck design that’s super easy and comfortable to wear over a T-shirt or other lightweight top. The design comes in four sizes ranging from 45 to 57 inches (or 112.5 to 142.5 cm), which should tell you it’s meant to be worn with a fair bit of positive ease. The pattern doesn’t specify how much ease is recommended but you can use your own measurements and how much ease you tend to like as a guide.

The pattern also has three options for length so you can make it cropped or longer (the length options are 19.5, 22 and 23.75 inches, or 48.5, 55 and 62 centimeters).

This sweater looks like it would be a lot of fun to knit and to wear, and it will teach you some lessons about different ways to manipulate stitches to get a different look.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Yumiko Alexander]

Book Review Wilderness Knits: Scandi-style sweaters for adventuring outdoors

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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