Stripes Sweeten this Mohair T-Shirt Knitting Pattern

There’s not much I haven’t done when it comes to knitting, but one of the things I’ve always wanted to make but haven’t is a mohair shirt or sweater. In fact the only project I’ve “made” (in quotes because I haven’t finished it) with mohair is a shawl from the original Mason-Dixon Knitting book. It’s so pretty but it is a little fiddly.

I should have started with an easier project, like a simple knit T-shirt. Berry from Maria Sølvtofte is an intermediate level knitting pattern that’s a top down raglan worked in luscious mohair blend yarn and fruity stripes.

It calls for two strands of a mohair/silk/wool blend held together for one stripe, with a viscose and wool blend that also has a bit of a halo as the other stripe. Holding the strands together means you get to use larger needles (size 8 and 10 US are called for, or 5 and 6 mm), which makes the project that much faster.

The idea is that the tee should be knit with 4 inches/10 cm negative ease, meaning it is smaller than your actual body measurement. If you don’t like that idea you can make it with 0 ease or even a little positive ease, depending on how the sizing works with your body. The pattern has six size options, ranging from a chest measurement of 28.3 to 44.1 inches (or 72 to 112 cm). It’s somewhat cropped but you can add length if you prefer.

Berry is a free pattern from Hobbii.

If you’ve never worked with mohair before, here are some tips that will help you from A Knit Sheep. The main thing is to go slow and pay attention in the hope that you won’t ever have to rip out your knitting, but if you do, take it one stitch at a time instead of trying to pull out whole rows at a time, which will leave you with tangles.

[Photo via Hobbii]

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I can’t resist a pattern that’s both useful and a little silly, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Rybka pouch pattern from the delightfully named Rat and Sea Witch.

I know you’re going to ask, because I did, too. Rybka means little fish in Polish. (And because you’re also probably going to ask, Rat and Sea Witch comes from people’s attempts to say the designer’s name, Ratasiewicz, which if you say it fast kind of sounds like rat and sea witch.)

It’s easy to make a little fish bag in different sizes to suit your needs. The pattern has specific instructions for an Airpods Pro case and a pencil case, but you could change the length easily to hold more stuff, and change the size in general by working with a different weight of yarn.

The pattern calls for sock yarn and mohair held together to make a fingering weight gauge, but you could try it with heavier yarn and see what size bag you end up with.

Whatever size you make it, this looks like a fun project for holding trinkets or everyday items. The mouth of the fish is the mouth of the bag, and it closes with a drawstring that is also the strap. I wonder, too, if you could make one of these with a small clasp frame that could be the fish’s mouth and then you could just work I cord straps that would attach to the sides of the fish.

I could also see stripes, or fish of different colors to use up your yarn leftovers. How about a sunglasses case with a little loop to attach to your bag? Once you start thinking about all the ways you could use a fish-shaped bag in your life, I think you’ll see that you probably need more than one.

If you make one of these I would love to know how it went!

You can grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Rat and Sea Witch]

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