Another darling design by Jennifer Wood - Top-down, seamless, lace border, eyelets, comfort, easy peasy. What more could a knitter ask for!?

• Lifted increases (front and back panels) are staggered at the edges. Do these as tight as possible to avoid puckering. However, mine has a few gathers under the yoke line which I think looks cute. This is because I did my lifted increases as loose as possible.

• Beginning/end of round is at center front. However, if your neckline eyelet placement looks better in back (as was the case for my size), you can exchange the back for the front because both sides are exactly the same - except perhaps the eyelet placement around the neckline.

Changes I Made:

One of the reasons I love testing for Jennifer Wood is that she allows her testers to put their own spin on her designs as long as we explain how we made the changes. This approach actually works well for her because it shows other knitters just how many different ways they can adapt her patterns to their own taste and body types.

I wanted my pullover to be shorter than the pattern sample. (Or perhaps my row gauge was way off?) So I did not follow the instructions on page 3, Body Increase Rnds. For my size, the pattern says to repeat these ten rounds “7 times”. I only repeated these ten rounds 4 times (40 rounds), but on the last round I did not do any increasing. Therefore, I ended up with 240 sts. In preparation for the lace hem border, I placed markers every 20 sts = 12 horizontal repeats of the Lace Chart. Because I started out with 20 sts, I did not need to do any M1-P increases in the Lace Chart. (Just did a “knit” stitch for the M1-P on round #1 and a “purl” stitch for the M1-P on round #15.) Also, I did “knit” stitches in the gray area of the Lace Chart. It looks pretty much the same as the pattern sample with these minor changes.

Note to self: I think tiny bobbles would look good on the M1-P stitches of round #1.

If you want to make your pullover shorter than the pattern sample, make sure that you end up with some multiple of 18, 19 or 20 before starting the Lace Chart:

18 - Follow pattern instructions exactly

19 - Substitute “purl” or “knit” stitch for M1-P on round #1, but follow pattern Lace Chart otherwise.

20 - Do what I did (instructions above)

How I Did My Sleeves (directions for MY size):

• I picked up the sleeve stitches as indicated on the pattern except that I picked up more stitches (temporarily) under the arm. This is a trick I always use to avoid holes or seaming later on. Then on the next round, I decrease to the number of stitches specified in the pattern - which in my case was 84 sts per sleeve. I then put in a lifeline. The reason I do this is so that I can count rounds to make sure that each sleeve has an equal number of rounds. I keep track of rounds as I go, but I have many distractions, so it’s best to put in a lifeline for reference.

• I knit 50 rounds. During the last few rounds, I decreased a total of 4 stitches. On round #50, I had 80 sts on my needles.

• Purl 1 round

• ^(YO, K2, K2tog). Repeat from ^ round

• Purl 1 round

This resulted in 20 eyelet holes. If you’re knitting a larger size, be sure that you end up with an EVEN number of holes because you’ll be weaving elastic through these holes. Also, the two purl rounds above may be substituted by knit rounds. It doesn’t make a big difference, since the elastic will cover most of this area. I was trying to imitate the neckline treatment to some extent, but knit rounds might actually be better due to less bulk.

• Knit 3 rounds. At this point, I placed markers every 20 sts in preparation for FOUR horizontal repeats of the lace chart.

NOTE: If you are knitting a larger size with 5 horizontal repeats of the lace chart, you will need to space your eyelet holes differently, but make sure that you’ll end up with an even number of holes for the elastic.

• Began Lace Chart. I did mine exactly like I did the hem. If your sleeve stitches are a multiple of 18 or 19 (rather than 20 as in my case), please see my instructions above for how to adapt the lace chart.

• Begin lace chart - exactly the same as I did my hem.

My sleeves are actually 3/4 length without the elastic/ribbon. However, I intend to wear this with the eyelets / elastic above my elbow and the lace hanging down from there. My intention was to have slight blousing in the sleeves and the lace hanging down as a loose ruffle.

I threaded gray, ruched elastic (photo at left) through the eyelet holes using a small safety pin. (Measure your arm and cut the elastic this exact length. It’s a “soft stretch” elastic.) Overlap the elastic about 3/8” and secure the loop with needle and thread under the arm. Polyester ribbon bows on the outside add a decorative, feminine touch. I singed the ends of the ribbon with a flame to keep them from fraying. Then I tacked the bows on the outside of each sleeve using needle and thread.

I’m giving 5 stars to Jennifer’s fabulous pattern as usual.

Stylecraft Batik yarn is only getting 4 stars because (once again) there was a problem with the dye in one ball of yarn. I had to cut out a considerable portion of that one ball once I noticed that there was either no dye for a long stretch or too much dye all in one area of the yarn. If you are using this yarn, I highly recommend buying an extra ball because it’s inexpensive and this is the second project where I’ve run into this problem with the dye.

Test Knit Forum

Clara Summer KAL