I got to chat with Micah for this show. This week's free knitting pattern is a smocked baby sweater, designed to bust your stash.
Smocked Baby Sweater
This is one of my more ambitious designs. It's still just one size, but it includes smocking, a different sort of yoke design, and what can only really be called an afterthought button system.
The techniques needed for this sweater range a bit, but it's really not that hard. Basically, the sleeves and body are worked from the bottom up, then they are joined together, underarm stitches are left on holders, and the yoke is worked straight up with no decreasing until the very top, where severe decreases finish the neck edge.
After the knitting is done, the underarm stitches are picked up and grafted together and smocking is applied to the yoke to shrink it down. Finally, a button and button loop are added for closure.
I didn't want the pattern to be 25 pages long, so the knitting, button and button loop are all covered in detail. Grafting in stockinette stitch and smocking are not covered in detail. I have links within the pattern's pdf and at the bottom of this page to a photo gallery I made last year about grafting and the Smocked Wash/Dish/Anycloth pattern that was published as part of show 74. If you have any questions or problems, please let me know.
How is it a stashbuster?
The sleeves and body are made from the bottom up, sleeves first, to allow the stashbusting to occur. Colors are changed after the cuffs and every 10 rounds on the sleeves. Then, the rest of that ball of yarn could be used to work on the body until the yarn runs out. That way, the sleeves match each other and the body has stripes in the same order, but in different widths. I love the way it looks and it could be applied to a wide range of sweater styles.
Chat
Micah was so much fun to talk to. We went off on a few tangents. Mostly about fishing. But also about not messing up yarn shops when you go for help.
Links
Smocked Wash/Dish/Anycloth Pattern (with very detailed instructions on working smocking)
Directions for grafting in stockinette stitch
