I’ve got a jumper to share today that has been some time in the knitting.
I’m a huge fan of Hannah Fettig’s knitwear designs. I knit two projects from her book Home and Away at the end of last year / start of this (Lesley and Hancock), and have two projects from Knitbot Linen on the needles (I failed to finish them in time for last summer; maybe I’ll manage for this spring/summer). So, unsurprisingly, I’m really excited about Hannah’s brand-spanking-new book, Texture.
I was also really excited when Hannah asked if I would like to be a test knitter for a project from Texture back in the summer. However, I entirely overestimated both my knitting ability and speed, and available time. I selected the Wharf Street Pullover, a bottom-up pullover featuring honeycomb cables, and raglan three-quarter sleeves (ahem, more on these below).
Feedback was due back with Hannah in the autumn; I finished knitting the pullover this week… So apologies to Hannah for being a useless test knitter, but I have ended up with a lovely jumper! I have also ended up with a jumper which is quite different from Hannah’s design, which is intended to be quite a bit shorter in the body and sleeves. I may yet go back and alter it to be a closer match to Hannah’s design, but I do quite like this alternative slouchy version. I attribute the added length to my gauge being off, and possibly also to wearing it for these photos (and for some hours before) while it was damp, following its first wash, which I suspect resulted in some stretching which blocking should reduce. It possibly also resulted in me temporarily smelling a little bit like a wet sheep…
The honeycomb stitch which makes up the bulk of the Wharf Street Pullover is straightforward, if relatively time consuming. I made some mistakes when attempting to maintain the pattern on increase/decrease rows, particularly on the sleeves, but I was working from the test pattern, and the final version may do more hand-holding on these sections.
In contrast to my usual contrariness, I knit this using the suggested yarn, Quince & Co’s Owl (worsted 50% American wool, 50% alpaca, which is spun and dyed in USA) in the ‘mesa’ colourway. The yarn showcases the honeycomb cable beautifully and is suitably sheepy and warm.
The Wharf Street Pullover is one of 13 designs included in Texture, which features a mix of garment and accessory patterns using cables and textured stitches, designed in Quince yarns. As with Home and Away, the book contains a number of tutorials – I haven’t seen these yet, but the tutorials in Home & Away were excellent, so I’m expecting similar. Plus, the photography is gorgeous.
Other favourites from Texture, are this jacket (which should be a quick knit) and these cardigans 1 /2. Oh, and if you pre-order the book, you receive this rather lovely cowl pattern.
Right, I’m off to plan what I can knit next, and hopefully finish in time to wear this winter!
P.S. it’s worn here with Stork Scissors by Birmingham-based Frilly Industries, and People Tree’s Hesper Stripe Skirt.
