27 April 2015

New pattern: Thistle Leaf Pullover

Thistle Leaf Pullover

Thistle Leaf Pullover $7 on Ravelry (no account required)


Are you looking for a Springtime project? How about a Thistle Leaf Pullover? With a pretty lace body and stockinette sleeves, it's a lovely project in fingering-weight yarn to wear almost any time of year. My testers (and their friends) all went crazy for this one, and I must confess that when I wear it, I feel like a million bucks!

What you'll love about knitting your Thistle Leaf Pullover:
  • worked in the round - always having the right side facing you makes it easier to see where you are in the pattern and means hardly any finishing work (weave the underarms together, darn in your ends, and you're all set)
  • body is worked without shaping (no increasing or decreasing in lace - whew!) - put the stretchy quality of lace to work for you and your curves
  • sleeves are worked straight from the elbow - no shaping, just knit around and around (and if you decide to make the sleeves longer, do the same and you'll have pretty flared sleeves with no more work)
  • my three-motif-wide chart of Thistle Leaf Lace can be used to mark off your raglan decreases for the yoke - since I don't know where you will be in the lace pattern, I can't provide a definitive chart for the raglan decreases, but you can do it! Feel free to ask me for help - my contact information is on the pattern - or check in with fellow knitters in the forum.
  • lace pattern is provided in both chart and written formats - I know that not everyone can read a chart (some folks just can't process visual information like that) and others cannot make their way through written instructions - use what works for you
  • somewhere between two and four skeins of sock yarn will give you a pullover to wear almost any time of year (with a t-shirt underneath, I wore mine on all but the coldest days this Winter, and layered with a tank or camisole you're ready for Spring or Fall, maybe even Summer depending upon your weather


And what you'll love about wearing your Thistle Leaf Pullover:
  • the curvy hem from beginning the lace pattern right away
  • crisp, turned-hem cuffs on your sleeves - turned hems are a great way to deal with the curling nature of stockinette
  • how the lace follows and flatters your curves, even though you didn't have to mess with shaping in lace
  • the raglan lines, where the stockinette sleeves meet the lace body, drawing attention up to your beautiful face
  • the delicate rolled neckline which doesn't distract from the lace and puts that stockinette curl to use

Size/Finished Measurements 
Women’s XS {S, M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X} (shown in size M with 4 inches negative ease)
Chest circumference: 28 {32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52} inches/71.1 {81.3, 91.4, 101.6, 111.8, 121.9, 132.1} cm


Materials 
madelinetosh tosh sock (100% Merino; 395 yds/361 m per 3.53oz/100g); color: Ms. Taylor; 2 {2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4} skeins {approx. 575 (680, 790, 930, 1050, 1170, 1290) yds}
US6/4.0 mm 29-inch circular needle
Set of US6/4.0 mm double-pointed needles (DPNs)
Waste yarn
Stitch markers
Removable stitch markers
Tapestry needle

Gauge 
20 stitches x 28 rounds = 4”/10 cm in Stockinette Stitch

Skills Needed 
Casting on
Binding off
Knitting
Purling
Increasing
Decreasing
Working from charted or written instructions

Thanks! 
Technical Editing: Rachel Brown
Test Knitting: BillS25, frankiepaige, jessicakunttu, jgeorgieff07, puddinknits

Pattern is provided in both charted and written formats professionally formatted (by me!) to ensure you have everything you need to create your own beautiful Thistle Leaf Pullover.

Thistle Leaf Pullover is part of a bundle of four patterns inspired by The Unicorn Tapestries at The Cloisters in New York City. Inspiration for this design came from the magnificent tapestry known as The Unicorn in Captivity, where the Unicorn lounges amidst mille-fleurs, including a single white thistle just in front of the right side of his fence.

I hope you enjoy this pattern! There are two more new patterns and one re-release to share with you this week, so stay tuned :)

Thanks for stopping by, and happy knitting!
xoxo, Kathleen

5 comments:

  1. What makes me think I could do this!? It's beautiful and appealing, and doesn't sound terribly fiddly to me. Hm. :-)

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    Replies
    1. You totally can! The only fiddly bit is that some lace rounds require you to slip the very first stitch of the round to use in the last decrease of the round, and that makes sense once you get going (I have helpful notes about it :)

      I seriously love how it looks all shapely but only requires you to knit a lace tube!

      Delete
  2. What makes me think I could do this!? It's beautiful and appealing, and doesn't sound terribly fiddly to me. Hm. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would knit EVERY SINGLE PIECE in this group - I love them all SO.MUCH!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Anne! I loved knitting them and so enjoy wearing them. Hard to believe it's 75 degrees today - so much for wool season ;)

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