Repairing a hole-y sweater

A customer asked me if I could repair her daughter’s well-worn cardigan that she bought from me a few years ago. I took the opportunity to photo-record the process of repair..

If a sweater is in stocking stitch, it’s easy to un-do one row in the middle of a sleeve, like this.

Two sleeve ends have been successfully extracted.

I put the sleeve back on the machine and re-knit the bit that I took off (this can obviously be done by hand if your sweater has been hand-knitted).

Cuffs can get especially grubby on childrens’ sweaters, and it’s so satisfying to re-do them!

I like to wash the knitwear at this point in cedar-laced hot water, which smells lovely and is moth-repellent.

Ta daa!

As good as new (almost) !

Cecile in her cardigan. Now it can be worn a few more years by her little sister!

This is a guest blog post from my tester, Kiki Crean, who has documented the making of her Russian Fairy dress, with notes and photos. I hope it will be helpful to you if you are making, or thinking of making one! Kiki made the size 2 years using ‘Springtime’ in Z. Hinchcliff’s held double.

12th April 2020.
My first test knit!
Just knitting first attempt at tension square. Using 2.75 needles flat.

I

21st April

Well I struggled a bit to get gauge (as I always do). In the end I went with the closest and the one which gave a good fabric. That was with size 3mm needles.

I love the hem will a roll on the edge

21st April- The body

Have completed the first bit of dress. I needed to add a few rows as my row gauge was a little out. I should have thought of that earlier and added a few rows in between each decrease but it looks ok.

21st April - Sleeves

I have started a sleeve and although I’m not keen on dpns it’s going well.

21st April- Swatching

I have also done a practice piece for the intarsia which I’ve not done before. I decided to do the flat (back and forth) version. I looked at a few video tutorials on doing intarsia in the round but felt I might get confused. Maybe when I’ve done a bit more intarsia it’ll make more sense to me.

23rd April
Had a marathon sleeve knitting and am ready to attempt the intarsia on the yoke. Due to my printer running low on ink and not showing the colours correctly I knit the wrong colours at the bottom edge! I found the bobbles on the sleeves quite fiddly to do but that was right on the edge and I have not done them before. At the yoke it might be easier.

23rd April - Joining sleeves and body

Joined sleeves and body and prepared 24 lengths of yarn (12 for each of MC and CC). I decided to to do yarn butterflies rather than bobbins.. in my practice piece I made some cardboard bobbin-type things but that was for just a few lengths. Here with 24 lengths I thought it might be a bit cumbersome. I used about 2m50 lengths.

26th April - Intarsia star points
Finished the points. Somehow I ended up with 2 extra stitches at the 3 stitch side of steek but just absorbed them into 2x k2 tog! It was easier to do the bobbles at this stage than on the edge of the sleeves. I did intarsia back and forth. At first just added the new colour in each time but this made the whole thing a bit gappy which I found difficult so I start to just tie a loose knot when I changed colour to stabilise things a bit. After a while I felt more confident and stopped tying the new yarn to the old as it was a bit time-consuming. I found that the bobbles were in a gap and had a tendency to pop through to the back so I did little retaining stitch when I dealt with many loose ends. Another time I might just do the points in normal stranded fashion and catch the floats every 5, 6, 7 stitches, varying the position so the colour doesn’t show through. The yarn actually fluffs up quite a lot after washing so I guess that would probably hide any stitches that peeked through.

After points! Actually not as difficult to manage as it looks

29th April - Short Rows
I did German short rows which I find neater and easier to understand. I found the half way point between back and front by finding the centre point of top of sleeves.

This meant I knit 45 stitches past first marker to first turning point and then knit back 35 stitches to next. Thereafter I knit to the 2nd stitch before each previous turn.

Cutting the steek

Next, I cut the steek. I wonder if there is a way to make the steek wider as 5 stitches is quite narrow which leaves a very narrow facing. I did back stitch one stitch away from where I cut to secure it. I think I rushed this stage a bit. Maybe I should have pressed the facing to flatten it a bit as it was a bit bulky when I sewed the band onto the back.

30th April - Button bands
Cast off. Added button bands. Didn’t quite pick up stitches all the way to the top by mistake. I think this was because the bobble got in the way and I didn’t see the top clearly but I didn’t spot this until I’d finished.But that same very last bobble at the top in neck ribbing hides the gap.

Trying to decide which backing ribbon to use…

1st May- Finishing

Finished weaving in ends - there were quite a lot. Stitched the ribbon band on the cut edge (facing) of steek and grafted underarm stitches.. Slight panic when I couldn’t tighten the stitches up for some unknown reason. The yarn got caught on something. It looked like I had split it at one point and then when I pulled one tiny strand broke so that the strand which was left got bunched up and wouldn’t pull through. So I had to be creative and laboriously tighten one stitch at a time. It looked a bit messy but I reassured myself that it would be ok after washing!

I finally went with this one..

Reverse side of the yoke, with all ends woven in.

Yay, finished. Loved knitting this and I love the result. I can’t wait to see it on my granddaughter Clara.

Last year I made this version of Noomi Cardigan for my son, knitted here using the instructions for size 6Y. I inversed the colours on the body pattern (so MC became CC and vice versa). I then added a different yoke with larger-scale, more traditional Fair isle motifs, all in bright colours. If you already have the Noomi pattern (available here), you can now download your FREE Yoke Extension pdf to get the most out of your pattern! See below.

The original Noomi Cardigan, in red and white

Brother and sister Noomi Cardigans

Quince cardigan, in dark green and oatmeal, and the new alternative base motif

In my previous post, I explained that I had developed a new motif for the Quince cardigan pattern because some knitters were finding the original one a bit tricky (please check this post just below to download your FREE chart of the new motif). Today, I have finally finished my new version and have taken a few photos to explain to you how I make it (and how the pattern is written).

I started off by designing the new motif: but it had to be the same number of stitches (24) wide so that it can easily be interchangeable with the original motif, and so works with the stitch counts in the pattern.

I followed the 3-5 Y size for my 3-year-old daughter. Many people find my sizes come up small so please do check the schematic closely if you are chosing a size to knit for your your child.

I always knit Fair isle flat as I really don’t like the idea of cutting my knitting! However, many knitters have knitted my designs succesfully using a steek. At this point, I havent decided definitively which colours I’ll use at the yoke, but I like the way the dark green sets off the turquoise and mint (I think I’m inspired by the kilim rug i’ve laid it down on)..

The body and sleeves are now all on one needle, and I start to knit up the yoke, starting with 1 row of bobbles. I keep changing my mind about which colours to use at the yoke.

The yoke is finished with tones of blue and green and highlights of red and yellow..Now i need to block the entire piece and then knit on the buttonbands.

Blocked and ready to try on.

A few of you have mentioned that the base (body) motif as currently written in the Quince pattern is a bit tricky, requiring a lot of concentration, so I decided to re-design the base motif as an extra option, interchangeable with the current design. I’m really happy with the look of it-and most importantly, it keeps the big-scale look, as well as being rhythmic and easy-to-follow whilst knitting. You can download the chart for free below (chart is for circular knitters). It uses the same number of stitches in the repeat, so it will work perfectly well with all the instructions in the pattern.

The original swatch and the new, easier motif for more rhythmic knitting.

Download your FREE chart here:

Now all I need to do is make a new sample using the new motif. If any of you do it before me, please let me know!

I have just finished my third Noomi Cardigan and took the opportunity, as I was knitting it, to make notes and take photos so you can see exactly how I make it (ie-how the pattern is written). You can read through it as you are following your pattern, and I hope it will help you if you are stuck or unclear at any point.

I’ve grown up knitting flat and only realised as I started to write patterns for other hand-knitters, that most people like to knit in the round. I apologise to in-the-round knitters that I have written the pattern in this way but I have such an aversion to the idea of cutting my knitting that I couldnt bare to write my pattern with a steek, however many of you have done this with beautiful results-and so it is very possible to do so!

I wanted to make this version of Noomi for my daughter in a golden-y colour palette using the beautiful yarns from Bouclelaine, a local (to NE France) family-run company that sells pure wool yarns all in natural colours. I used “Sable naturel” as the main colour (MC) and “Curcuma” as the contrast colour (CC), both from the Roussin-Alpaga20 Gamme. A skein of 100g each was more than enough. The quality of the yarn is incredibly light and soft but full of texture and character. It’s a dry yarn that puffs out when washed-exactly the sort of yarn I love, as it makes the colours blend together so beautifully. I used “Pollen en pelote” from the Mérinos-Angora range for the ribbing at the body bottom, just for a bit of textural difference and I think this slight change in colour from the CC makes the cardigan more interesting.

Bouclelaine colour cards.

I love the colours in the Bouclelaine range, but felt I needed to add some others from my stash to add a bit of freshness and a ‘ping’ in the yoke, and I did this with the addition of Baracuda blue and Pineapple (see yoke photo below). I find that, if the colour combination in a Fair isle sweater is too tasteful, the finished garment can look ordinary or even boring. I also always like to use at least 1 highlight colour, and even a colour that can seem shocking or brash often adds just the sort of zing I feel a colour-combination needs. Many of the colours in this yoke come from different ranges and so have differing textures. This is done on purpose, as I like the patchwork-y look and feel that it gives. I have added a free pdf of a sample 2y size yoke with a key to all the colours I have used in this colourway for you to download :

A close-up of the yoke colours.

I used 3 mm needles and the 2 ply yarn to knit this version (Roussin-Alpaga comes in 2 ply and 3 ply). My pattern specifies 2.75 mm needles and I have a rather loose tension so I knew the cardigan would come up a bit bigger than that specified in the dimensions on my schematic in the pattern, but this is good as Eloise is nearly 3 now and in between the 2y and 4y size. So I knit the size 2y. The final dimensions were: circumference: 63cm; upper arm circumference: 26 cm.

Steps 1 and 2 are finished, I have my body base + 2 x sleeves. I like to block the pieces as I go along, and have finished off by knitting one row of waste yarn in case anything un-ravels.

Once I’ve completed the first 2 steps and have the bases (as above), I now mark the ‘side seams’ and set aside the stitches under the arms, putting them on holders. For the time being, my stitch counts match those in the pattern. This can change as I go up the yoke, but I don’t worry too much about that as long as the general “recipe” for the decreases is used.

Marking the ‘side seams’ and putting the under-arm stitches on holders (I always use bobby pins, as I often have them in my hair I find it very practical to slip them out of my hair from where I am sitting and they work perfectly as stitch-holders!

Next, I thread the circular needle though all 3 parts:

Threading the needle back though the stitches and placing the sleeves at the mid-way point as I go.

All pieces are on the needle.

Now time to start the yoke and introduce all the beautiful colours! The first 6 rows are very tight when I get to the arms so I have to pay attention to make sure I’m properly spacing the yarn as I work the different colours at this point.

The yoke is being knitted.

Now, I’ve done the last decrease and I need to mark off where I’m going to start my short rows:

I place a marker after 17 stitches each side of the cardigan to mark off the half-way point that is the back of the cardigan.

Now I start to knit the 6 rows from the short rows yoke chart between the two markers at the back, wrapping the yarn around the next stitch before I turn.

The 6 short rows have been knitted between the markers at the back.

A close-up of the point where I have wrapped the yarn around the next stitch before I turn. To avoid a hole, you can knit each row one stitch further along before wrapping and turning.

Next, I leave all the stitches on the circular needle and pick up the side stitches using my smaller rib needle to knit the button bands BEFORE I knit the neck ribbing. I do this as I think it has a neater and more professional look than knitting the buttonbands after the neck ribbing has been finished. This means that if you are steeking, you would have to steek at this point. I pick up about 3 stitches every 4 rows. I find that if I pick up each stitch, the buttonband bends and it needs to be taught and give structure to the cardigan.

Picking up 3 stitches every 4 rows for the buttonbands.

Next, I tightly knit 2 rows of garter stitch then on the 3rd row, I cast off 2 stitches for a buttonhole, with 10 stitches between buttonholes. On the 4th row going back, I cast on the stitches again, where I had cast them off on the previous row. I didnt specify this way of making buttonholes in my pattern as my tech editor suggested most people make buttonholes by using a yarnover. After 5 or 6 rows of garter stitch, I cast off loosely on the wrong side so that the edge is in purl. Now I knit the same amount of stitches on the other side of the cardigan, omitting the buttonholes.

My buttonholes, using the cast-off, cast-on technique.

Now, making sure to pick up 3 extra stitches at the buttonbands, I knit the neck ribbing, using 1 row only of these colours in this order: Ambre, Mousse, Heathered green, Baracude blue, Pinapple, Brique, Pèche givré, Blanc naturel, Sable naturel. I cast off purlwise in Sable naturel. Next, I plunge the cardigan into a basin of hot water, rubbing between my palms with soap over the entire piece. After ironing carefully with a cotton cloth between the iron and sweater, I lay it out flat on a towel somewhere warm. As soon as it’s dry, I sew up the sleeve seams, graft the underarms stitches and lastly, the best bit, get Eloise to try it on. But I have to wait for the morning for that, as it was about midnight by this stage.