I’m so excited to finally be able to share that I am a contributor to the next and final issue of Pom Pom Magazine! The issue contains an amazing array of knitting patterns, including an insanely cool leisure set I will definitely be knitting by Elspeth Vance, all inspired by woven fabrics.

My contribution to this issue is Coverlet – a colorwork raglan sweater inspired by the traditional whig rose weaving pattern. It is knit bottom up in the round, with steeks for the neck and armholes. You knit the sleeves bottom up with steeks for the shaping, cut all the steeks open, and seam the pieces together. You end with picking up stitches for the neck, adding some short rows in a textured pattern, before finishing it off with a 2×2 rib mock neck.

My office asked me to talk a little bit about the process of designing this sweater, and I thought I’d also write that presentation up here.

It started when Pom Pom put out a call for submissions back in February for the theme “woven.” I’d been stewing on some ideas of knitting patterns inspired by woven motifs for a while, and figured this would be a great way to try out designing (if I got accepted). I also was excited that you only had to submit your idea – you didn’t have to write up a pattern to submit.

I really love these coverlet jackets that were (are?) trendy a while back, but without having my own coverlet to hack up, and a severe lack in sewing skills, I used this as one of my sources of inspiration. I loved the bold, geometric overshot designs, and the density of the fabric and how it fell.

I knew I wanted something that was more cozy sweatshirt than jacket-like, and I also knew that I wanted to use the traditional Whig Rose pattern that I absolutely love.

The next step was figuring out how to translate that pattern into a chart. I can’t show the final chart here since it is part of the publication, but here are a couple versions I tried along the way:

Next came swatching. I had a vision for purple and orange, but I didn’t have the right colors in my stash, so I tried out a ton of different options. In the end, I also loved the green, soft blue, and more traditional blue on white versions.

I also tried a gradient version that I would have LOVED to see knit as a full sweater, but in the end, I’m so thankful I didn’t have to knit that for the sample.

The last part of the submission was to suggest yarns (I suggested traditional colorwork yarns like Jameison’s of Shetland Spindrift and Harrisville Designs Shetland), and to add a sketch of how you intended for it to fit on the body:

Then it was time to wait.

I finally heard back a few weeks later that Pom Pom would love to have me create the pattern I had dreamed up! I was so excited, but having never written a pattern before, I was also definitely freaking out and wanted to figure out a lot of design details before I even tried knitting up the sample.

I knew that for a more casual fit, I wanted raglan shaping. But I also knew that a) I always struggle with the fit of top-down raglans, b) I wanted to knit this in the round with steeks, and c) I just really like bottom up sweaters (don’t @ me~~~). So I started using my favorite knitting sketching tool, Google Sheets, to try to figure out the shaping I would need and how I could do raglan decreases with steeks (Note: this is not the final shaping in the pattern, and the pattern repeat is intentionally cut off here, given that the pattern rights are owned by Pom Pom).

I also knew I wanted a folded hem, and that I needed to figure out the overall shaping of the sleeves. All of this was sketched out using Google Sheets. Once the pattern rights are back to me, I’ll upload a few more of those screenshots.

Then it came time to KNIT KNIT KNIT. I’m a fast knitter, but this definitely put my skills to the test. I think the gauge for this pattern is really tight as a result 😂 The yarn, being Jamieson’s of Shetland and coming from the middle of the north sea, took forever to get to me. It cut my sample knitting time down by…a lot…So I was already in crunch mode.

Unfortunately, this being my first pattern, and being someone that usually knits off of cones and doesn’t think about yardage, I completely underestimated how much yarn I needed and panic set in…

But luckily, through a very strange, happy coincidence, I was going to Shetland that summer – the land of wool.

And I was able to pick up a nice little cone of the Anenome color at their flagship store in Lerwick. [First] crisis averted.

With plenty of yarn in hand, and only days to finish up the knitting, I continued along. I got to the point of cutting the steeks, attaching the sleeves, and figuring out the plan for the neck.

I was pretty pissed off when I realized that my neck shaping had not worked as planned, and I ended up with more of a V-neck or henley shape, than a tight fitting crew like I wanted.

SO, it was time to un-attach(?) the sleeves from the front, rip out the neck, and reknit the whole front neck with brand new steeks and shaping 🙃

And voila! A beautiful, tight fitting neckline. Second (and final) crisis averted.

So next time anyone tells you you can’t “fix” a sweater after cutting open a steek, you can tell them that’s a lie. They’re just not crazy enough (or working against a contract deadline).

And finally, I had a beautiful finished sweater!

In the end, the fit came out a bit tighter than I had intended, but I think the final result is a really eye-catching piece that can be styled up or down. I also think this pattern can be used as an amazing canvas to play with color combos. For a looser, more cropped and casual fit like my original intention, you can size up and knit one or two fewer vertical repeats, which is what I plan to do for my second sample that is already in the works!

Overall I’m so excited to be part of this amazing, and sadly final, publication from Pom Pom. I want to thank the Pom Pom team for giving me a chance and publishing my very first pattern, and the Jameison’s of Shetland team for putting together that special cone of yarn for me and having it ready for pick up during my much too short stay in Shetland.

Pom Pom magazine photos are shot by Diana Ascarrunz @dianascarrunz; and shown here courtesy of Pom Pom @pompommag