I’m such a fan of Irene Lin’s knitwear designs. This pullover is going to be a huge hit with knitters. I’m a sucker for bobbles and lace. Put the two together with a soft, heavenly yarn and it’s about as good as it gets. Keep an eye on this young designer, because she’s going places!

I could not be happier with how this project turned out. It’s one of the most beautiful pullovers I’ve ever knitted. I’ll definitely have to knit one of these for myself. Using these two strands of yarn together resulted in a pullover as light as air, yet warm and soft.

This pattern is one of the best written that I’ve ever seen. Instructions are in both written and chart form. There were no errors. All stitch counts are given for every size. Crystal clear directions and very easy to follow. The bobbles remind me of flowers springing up from the lace leaves below them.

I knitted this with a lace-weight mohair and a fingering weight yarn held together. I chose the Woolike because my niece is allergic to animal fibers. Hope she can tolerate the Angora goat mohair. If not, the pullover will be mine.

I did not have the directions for the bobble/popcorn stitch when I got to that part of Irene’s pattern. So I did mine a much more complicated way using knitting needles. Irene’s way is much better:

Directions for ONE Bobble/Popcorn Stitch:

When you get to the bobble location, use your crochet hook (Size D or 3mm) to completely remove the stitch from the left knitting needle. Do this by inserting the crochet hook into the front of the stitch (just as you would a knitting needle), and lifting it completely off the left needle. Each bobble will be completed independent of any knitting needles.

Chain 2.

^(Yarn over hook from back to front. Insert hook into the original knit stitch from front to back. Pull up a loop through original knit stitch, but do not pull yarn through waiting stitches on crochet hook.) Repeat from ^ two times more. You’ll now have 7 waiting yarn loops on the crochet hook.

Yarn over hook from back to front one more time and draw through all 7 yarn loops on crochet hook.

Chain 1 and place this stitch on the right knitting needle so that it is mounted in the proper direction to continue knitting. You have now completed one bobble using your crochet hook. Easy peasy!

Here’s a link to Irene’s video tutorial showing exactly how to do it using only a crochet hook.

• I did 60 rounds of stockinette stitch before starting the bottom lace ribbing. At pattern gauge, the 60 rounds measures about 10 inches (25.4 cm). The bottom lace ribbing measures about 2.3 inches (6 cm). If I were knitting this for myself, I would have made it longer. Sawyer is 3 or 4 inches shorter than me.

• I had to add 22 extra rounds of stockinette to each sleeve before starting the cuff ribbing which is only about an inch wide. (Each sleeve has 82 rounds of stockinette total.) When I make this for myself, I will add 30 extra rounds of stockinette (90 rounds total) due to my very long arms. Also, I think I’d prefer my sleeve cuffs to fit snug around my wrist since I will not be wearing it over a shirt, most likely. I would prefer my sleeve cuff ribbing to be about 2.3 inches wide like the hem ribbing. These are very easy things to change.

I was able to match the pattern gauge exactly:

My final sweater measurements:

Underarm to bottom of hem: 13 inches / 33 cm

Underarm to bottom of sleeve: 15 inches / 38 cm

My niece, Sawyer is about 5’-4” tall.

I’m modeling in the photos, and I’m almost 5’-8” tall.

The final sleeve bind-off was a bit harrowing since I ended up with only 4 yards of the lace to spare. I had an extra ball of yarn, but who wants to join a new ball on the final bind-off round?! Whew, I made it!