broken stones

This is a quick toddler jumper I made as a sample for Wild Fire Fibres' stall at Woolfest. Sample knitting, I can't get enough of it these days. Who would have thunk that someone with the online moniker rubbishknitter would be entrusted with such a task, not once but twice in a row! Bwahahahahah all your lovely yarnz are belong to me! Anyway this particular yarn is a beautiful hand-dyed bouncy merino, Zeus DK, in colourway Broken Stones.


I had two skeins and I wanted to pick a pattern that I could use up every last inch of the yarn on, so I went for Runaround Raglan. I knew I had about enough yarn for the second size, and as it's top down I figured I could just keep going on the body and sleeves until I ran out. I quite like long sleeves on the wee man, you can fold them up when he's eating his tea or fold them down if you're out for a walk on a cold day, whilst also slowly unfurling them as he grows.

I'm not much of an expert in hand-dyed yarn pooling prevention, but Vikki cunningly suggested knitting each row using alternating skeins, so I gave this a go. It worked really well - I think with something as irregularly shaped as a jumper, you would be extremely lucky to get to the end of a single skein without some kind of Pooling Incident, such as I had with my tempest cardigan.


I quite like this pattern for hand-dyed yarn. The cables running along the raglan increases and down the sides give you a bit of knitting entertainment, but with all that stocking stitch it's simple enough texturally to show off the colours in the yarn. It also avoids the over-the-top cabled/lacy/hand-dyed too-many-things-going-on-at-once trap. And really quick to make. TDRs are so full of win if you're a bit strapped for time.


It's a good fit too. Nice wide neckline so it's super easy to put on and take off, accommodates a chubby toddler belly, and has a bit of growing room. I was thinking it would be a snug fit by winter when he needs it, but frankly today's alarming balticness has underlined the need for woolly summerjumpers in northern England. (My sis in Cumbria just last week lost some of her veg patch to ground frost! I know!)

Now if you excuse me I'm going to get back under my summer sofablanket... please to be bringing me a brew and biccies, cheers