This bona fide, certified, Sirka-fied™ pattern is available for FREE. (Yippee!) The Sirka® counter and Sirka bento box to which it refers are available for purchase at our Website (www.grellowgray.com).

When I told my mother I was thinking of designing a sweater for the Sirka™ bento box, she said, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” But she also laughed, so there’s that.

Still, as I hastened to point out, knitting a sweater for a case for a knitting tool is not entirely frivolous! Consider: Is your Sirka® counter more than just a counter to you? Is your Sirka™ bento box more than just a protective covering? Do you worry about your Sirka™ bento box getting scratched in your knit bag? If so, then you need to wrap it up with love, just like Ralphie Parker’s mom did in “A Christmas Story.” And not just love … knitterly love. A sweater.

Description

This pattern is for a cozy, technically, but I like to think of it as a sweater. This pattern is also a tutorial because it will help you learn how to use the Sirka® counter to work many of the techniques you’d find in (larger) sweater patterns: increases and decreases of varying frequencies; ribbing at the top and bottom; and a honeycomb cable up the middle.

The instructions for the sweater are Sirka-fied™, meaning that on the left side of each page are the written instructions, much like you’d find in an ordinary sweater pattern; while on the right side of each page is a drawing of the Sirka® counter, with its crowns and hands placed and ready to work that section of the pattern, along with tips about which crowns to move and when.

Yarn and Notions

I used Dream in Color Classy, but a similarly spun yarn of the same gauge should work just as well. Just don’t block it when you’re done. The sweater might grow, and if it does, it won’t fit as neatly.

As for needles, with the main needle (US 7) you’ll need whatever you use for socks, whether it’s dpns or “magic loop” (which is a mystery to me). The larger needle (US 10) is used only to cast on and bind off, so the type of needle doesn’t matter.

Happy Holidays!

Happy knitting and all best,

Grellow and Gray