This is my first test for Brianna Mason (woolbirdknits on Instagram and Ravelry). Love her style!

This lofty yarn is so stretchy that it’s like knitting with elastic. I learned from this project, that I have to use a much larger needle than usual to get gauge because the minute the yarn slips from the needle to the cable, it shrinks WAY down. There are 328 yards in a 50-gram ball. Ravelry has it listed as DK weight, but it actually knits up more like a bulky yarn because of the way it’s spun. The knitted fabric produced with this yarn is so fluffy that it looks almost felted. However, it weighs next to nothing. It feels as light as air, but very warm due to the thermal properties of the alpaca.

What I did differently:

Brianna gave me permission to knit straight sleeves instead of tapered ones. So my sleeves had 60 sts all the way down from underarm to where the cuff starts (70 rounds). Then I changed to size 7 US needles and did k2tog all around = 30 sts for the cuff. This was enough sts due to the extremely stretchy yarn. Cuffs each had 22 rounds of 1 x 1 ribbing. Then I did one round of knit (only) sts with CC yarn before binding off with size 5 US needles (JSSBO).

Needles used:

Size 7 US (Susan Bates) - Sleeve ribbing

Size 9 US (Susan Bates) - Neckband and lower ribbing
If I ever knit this for myself, I’ll use much smaller needles for the neckband and change to a turned down turtleneck.

Size 10 US (Addi) - Rounds 1 - 11 of the chart

Size 11 US (Addi) - Rounds 12 - 16 of the chart

Size 13 US (Addi) - Rounds 17 - 44 of the chart and all the way to the bottom until the ribbing. Also used this needle for the sleeves until the ribbing.

Size 5 US (Susan Bates) - JSSBO (sleeve ribbing bind off only)

Size 3 US (Susan Bates) - JSSBO (lower edge only)

Finished Length Measurements:

Side length from underarm - 12”

Sleeve length from underarm - 17”

Colorwork depth - 9”

Armhole depth - 9.5”

Color dominance in stranded knitting:

I held the green yarn (CC) in my left hand and the burgundy yarn (MC) in my right hane. That way, the CC is dominant and will stand out more. I knit the green yarn continental style and the burgundy yarn English style.

Weight of finished garment: 6.1 oz (173 grams)

Weight of MC yarn used: 4.74 oz (134.4 grams)

Weight of CC yarn used: 1.36 oz (38.6 grams)

How to end German Short Rows when knitting in the round

Different way of doing German Short Rows (no twisted sts)

Sewn Italian Bind Off
(I did not do this. It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible with the type of yarn that I used.)