F.O. Scrappy Clarke Pullover

I have been spending some time lately going through my cupboards trying to organize and purge.  I came across the first garment I knit in hand dyed yarn six years ago, called the Honeytree Vest.  Yarn and pattern are both by Tanis Fiber Arts.  When I knit this vest I was very inspired by Tanis' original colour choices, and still to this day love the colour combination.  However, the vest was not something I wore, and I decided that this yarn was too special not to repurpose.

Front of Honeytree Vest

Back of Honeytree Vest

I ripped out the vest and ended up with a lot of very curly yarn. 

Pre-soaking

I soaked the yarn for a long time and then hung it out to dry.   I ended up with a lot of mini balls in the various colours.

After soaking and hanging the yarn to dry

I decided to knit a short sleeve Clarke Pullover.  I have knit two versions of this pattern previously (see here and here) as it is a foolproof pattern, that is easily adaptable.  

And so today I proudly present my finished sweater:

Clarke Pullover

Pattern:  Clarke Pullover

Designer:  Jane Richmond

Yarn:  Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label Aran Weight (100% merino)

Colourway:  Various quantities of Midnight, Mallard, Sand, Lemongrass, Olive, Chestnut, and Buttercup

Needles:  4.5mm

Ravelry: see notes

Added Notes:
1.  My goal was to stick to the original colours, using up as much of the scrappy bits, supplemented by some partial skeins that I had in my stash. I had no specific striping pattern in mind, I just added different coloured stripes as I knit.

2.  With this many stripes comes a ton of ends to sew in.  But sewing ends in doesn't bother me.  It took me about two hours to sew them all in.

3.  The only modifications I made to the pattern was to knit shorter sleeves, and of course, to add my random stripes of colour.  

4.  As always I am super impressed with Tanis Fiber Arts yarn.  The colours are beautifully dyed and the quality of the yarn is excellent.  If you haven't knit with this yarn before I highly recommend it.

I have to admit that I am super happy that I decided to knit this sweater.  Since the yarn was aran weight, the sweater knit up very quickly, and now I have a new fall sweater to wear in my cupboard.

This sweater was a break from my many works in progress.  I will report on those items soon.  I am trying very hard not to cast on anything else.  However, there seems to be a tempting number of new patterns that have been published recently.  It's a fun time of year to be a knitter!  Don't you agree?

F.O. Clarke #2 by Jane Richmond

Pattern:  Clarke Pullover

Designer:  Jane Richmond

Yarn: Julie Asselin Hektos (75% merino, 15% cashmere, 10% silk)
Colourway:   Brume:  7skeins (two colours in one skein)
Romance:  1 skein (for ribbing on cuffs, hem and neckline)

Julie Asselin Hektos

Colourway:  Brume

Colourway:  Romance

Needles: 4.0mm & 4.5mm

Ravelry: my notes

Clarke Pullover

Added Notes:  
When I visited the Julie Asselin both at Knit City, my eyes were instantly drawn to the Brume colourway.  Somehow I missed the fact that I was purchasing two separate colourways, that were joined together, to look like one skein.  When I got home and opened the skeins, I saw to my surprise, two colourways.  Luckily, I didn't mind at all, as these two colourways were gorgeous.  However, I had to rethink my choice of pattern for this yarn.

Surprise!  Two colourways!

I immediately thought of the Clarke Pullover.  Of the many sweaters I have knit, the Clarke Pullover is one of my most frequently worn.  I knew that it would work well with two colourways, producing a much more subtle stripe than the original one I knit.  Also, the cashmere and silk content would produce a very different fabric.  (You can read about that sweater here). 

Clarke Pullover #1

I cast on Clarke for a second time.  The original pattern calls for ten rows of the main colour and four of the contrasting colour.  Having only bought seven skeins I knew I would not have enough of the main colour.  Instead, I knit ten rows of the main colour, followed by six rows of the contrast colour. That turned out to be a good decision, as I only had a tiny amount left of the main colour when it was finished.  I used a third colour (Romance) for the hem, neckband, and ribbing on the sleeves.  I am very happy with the result, and I can see myself wearing this sweater quite a bit. The yarn was a dream to knit with and creates a luxurious fabric, one that I can't wait to wear.

This is my first F.O. of 2018. Have I convinced you to knit the Clarke Pullover yet?  It is an easy knit and it produces a sweater that you will wear again and again.  It works well with any worsted weight yarn in stripes or a solid colour. What are you waiting for?

Happy Knitting!

WIP: Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond

Knitting Challenge: 
Problem #1:  To find a sweater pattern that would suit a variegated yarn.
Yarn:  Malabriogo Rios:  100% merino (worsted weight)
Colourway:  Piedras
Needles: 4.5mm

Problem #2 No skeins are identical and two of the skeins I own are very light coloured

Malabrigo Rios
Note:  I have no idea why how I didn't notice a leaf on my yarn!

Light skein on the left, darker skein on the right

I wasn't sure what to do with this variegated yarn.  I knew I wanted to knit a sweater, but I was worried that a sweater knit in solid Piedras might be too busy for me.  After searching through Ravelry, I thought the Daelyn Pullover by Isabell Kraemer might work.  I really like the back of this sweater as it is knit in garter stitch, which always makes a variegated yarn look great.  But I believed that, in order to get a consistent colour in my sweater, I would have to alternate a lot of skeins. Who wants to do that?

I made the decision not to use the two lighter skeins and to find a pattern that I could use with just my four darker skeins.  This meant that I would not have enough yarn to knit a sweater.  I knew I needed another colour to work with Piedras. 

That's when I found Cocoa in Malabrigo Rios.

Problem #3  Find a pattern that would well with two colours.  

I had another look at the Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond, which had been in my queue since the pattern first came out.  Most people on Ravelry knit it with two solid colours and I wasn't sure that it would look good with variegated yarn. I just went for it, knitting big stripes in Piedras, alternating with four rows of Cocoa.  I am really pleased with the effect.  This pattern is so well written and easy to follow. It's also a great sweater to knit if you are a beginner, and I am sure it will get a lot of use.

Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond

I have to admit that I like a yarn challenge.  It was fun for me to look try and find the perfect pattern for my yarn.  Hopefully I will have enough yarn to complete the sweater and that it will look great when it's done.  Trust me when I say that I do not go through this much thinking everytime I pick out a pattern to knit.

What will my next knitting challenge be?