Hello, I have returned! It has been nearly a month since I last posted, and I hate to take unexpected hiatuses (hiati?) from my blog, but these past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, most of it unrelated to knitting (unfortunately). This time of year is always burdensome for college and university professors, but our semester has been particularly difficult because we adopted a “modular” schedule, meaning my regularly scheduled semester-long course was crunched into 7 weeks. An interesting experiment during an already stressful and challenging pandemic semester. Not one I ever care to repeat.
At any rate, with the threat of grading looming over my head, and the holidays fast approaching, I’ve decided to sneak in a quick post. I’ve been promising some posts about my Fox and the Hare sock design, and that promise will continue unfulfilled today, I’m afraid. I want to have more time for a series on socks, so for now, I’m going to highlight a little design I released last month called Brown Bear, Brown Bear. It is a child’s pullover that accompanies the Woodland Critters collection and features brown bears lumbering through a pine forest.
This is a cute and easy design, with the stranded knitting motifs at the lower body and simple raglan shaping at the top. I tried to design this sweater with an active kid in mind: darker contrast color at the cuffs, hem, and neck to decrease stains, and an easy-care machine-wash yarn for the design.
This was my first time using Plymouth Encore, a favorite for children’s clothing and everyday knitting. It is 75% acrylic and 25% wool, a perfect Aran weight for quick projects, and it is available in many colorways. I really like the feel of this yarn – it is firm without being stiff, and very split-resistant. It took me quite a while to find the right colors for this project, but I’m happy with the final combination of browns, greens, and natural!
This design was a bit tricky because the stranded motif takes up quite a bit of room – too much room for the smaller sizes – so I had to create two different charts, one for the smaller sizes and one for the larger sizes. I also spent some time fiddling with the trees until I had them just right. Once the charts were complete, the sleeves and raglan shaping were a breeze.
This is a cute design for babies and children, and a nice companion piece to my Woodland Critters Collection of patterns.
I have plenty planned for the New Year, including some upcoming designs in print collections, a new submission (fingers crossed it will be accepted!) and many other designs on their way to Ravelry. I will try to pop in once more to wish everyone Happy Holidays! Until then, stay safe and healthy, and happy knitting to all!
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