Fearless Fibers Yarn

Sweater Progress

I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I still don’t have a photo of the completed raspberry socks that have been waiting for the final few rows of toe to be completed. I keep meaning to finish the socks, but every time I have a few minutes to knit I’m tempted away by the six-color sweater in progress. The good news is that I’ve made some real progress on the sweater!



What you see in this photo is a closeup view of the transition from the bottom section of the sweater with the checkerboard slip-stitch mosaic of color into the semi-solid stripes of the upper portion of the sweater. I’ve decided to give you only this tease of a photo so that I don’t ruin the punch line when the sweater is finally completed. The body of the sweater is actually done now (YIPPEE!) and I’ve just started on the first sleeve. It appears that the sweater will fit well, although it’s a little “poofier” at the transition into the stripes than I would have liked.

Some of you asked whether I would be publishing the pattern for this sweater. The answer to that question is No. It’s not that I don’t want to share with all of you lovely folks; it’s just that this isn’t a true “original” design. I saw a sweater similar to this a couple of years ago (either a Filati or Gedifra publication, I believe). It was a spring sweater in cotton that had the same type of slip-stitch checkerboard pattern at the bottom, done in pastel colors. The top was either solid white or possibly predominantly white with thin stripes of color. I don’t have the pattern book, but this sweater I’m working on is very similar to my recollection of that sweater and so I definitely would not call it an original design and so I’m not comfortable sharing the pattern.

What I can share with you is the slip-stitch pattern that I used for the bottom portion of the sweater. It’s a very simple four-row repeat with the only variable after the first four rows being the colors used. Once you’ve knit a base row of Color A, proceed with the four-row pattern as follows:

Row 1: With Color B, *K2, SL2* and repeat across
Row 2: Purl across, using Color A where Color A appears in the previous row and using Color B where Color B appears in the previous row

Continue rows 3 and 4 by dropping color A and introducing your next color, Color C, as follows:

Row 3: With Color C, *SL2, K2* and repeat across
Row 4: Purl across, using Color B where Color B appears in the previous row and using Color C where Color C appears in the previous row

Continue in this manner, beginning again with Row 1, dropping Color B from use and introducing a new color, Color D. You can continue introducing new colors as long as you like. I chose to use 6 colors for my sweater, so after introducing all six colors I cycled back around and reintroduced the first color again.

This may seem confusing, but if you try it with scraps of several colors over a small number of stitches, you will quickly see how easy it is.

Before I sign off for today, just a quick reminder to all: Please send me pics of projects you’ve completed with Fearless Fibers yarn for my new Monday photo feature! This new feature won’t last long unless I get plenty of pictures from all of you.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!