A Couple More Easy Ones

A couple more easy ones (sweaters)

Having just written about projects for your first sweater projects, I feel it’s necessary to mention a few more patterns that were just released, particularly two published by Joji Locatelli. We all know Joji as the brilliant Brazilian knitwear designer who brings us projects that are easy to knit and easy to wear (see Boxy Pullover, particularly the worsted-weight version for thousands of testaments about the popularity of this sweater).

Joji just released a duo of patterns called the Easy One. One version is written for a fingering weight yarn, while the other is written for a bulky weight. These boxy pullovers have a drop sleeve and are worn with a lot of ease. Having a few sweaters of this construction I can verify that these are lovely sweaters to wear, the type of thing you can throw on without thinking twice. Joji presents these patterns to us as great “first sweater” projects, and she’s right about that. I typically think of this shape as being knit bottom-up, with something like a three-needle bind-off done at the shoulders. However, these sweaters are done top-down. With sleeves picked up at the armholes and worked in the round, these are truly seamless sweaters. I also love that Joji gives us the chance to make some sweaters without any short-rows for shoulder shaping (because for some reason, short-rows seem scary to new knitters).

Joji’s fingering version is written for Brooklyn Tweed’s Loft. Not only will this wonderful yarn be arriving to Wool & Grace very soon, but it’s light and soft. This is a great sweater to take with you for cool nights on summer travels – but it can also work for you all winter long as well. Other ideas for yarn include Debbie Bliss Fine Donegal (another of my favorite sweater yarns), Shibui’s Birch (for a luxuriously soft version), Shibui’s Staccato (for something with a little sheen and some drape) or Baah’s La Jolla (for some hand-dyed fun and more feminine drape).

The Easy Bulky One is written for Brooklyn Tweed’s Quarry (which also, will be arriving to Wool & Grace soon) and is once again, soft and warm but totally weightless. Other ideas for a good bulky yarn include Rowan’s Brushed Fleece or Blue Sky’s Techno. Either of these options will give you another weightless sweater with more of a fleecy texture. Blue Sky’s Extra will give you a cleaner stitch and more drape. You could also knit this sweater up in Odin from Conway + Bliss or Roma Weave from Debbie Bliss.

Recently a customer asked if Andrea Mowry’s “The Weekender” would be a good first sweater project. While this project involves a little more technique (she calls for tubular cast-on and bind-off, and also uses short rows to shape the shoulders and neckline), I do think this would be a great sweater for an intermediate knitter who is ready to do their first sweater project. To begin, I think you could absolutely simplify the pattern by forgoing the tubular cast-on and bind-off (as long as you can cast-on and bind-off loosely), although this does give a good opportunity to learn these techniques. This sweater has a few more stylistic details than Joji’s Easy sweaters, including ribbing at the hems and shoulders and a faux-seam up the center-front and back, but these are easy techniques to get the hang of. Also, I wanted to mention this sweater, because it’s so similar in shape to Joji’s Easy sweaters, but it’s made with a worsted-weight yarn, between the two weights of Joji’s Easy sweaters. Mowry calls for Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter (swoon!) but also consider something like Pure Bliss Falkland, HiKoo’s Kenzie or even a Shibui combo (like Birch and Pebble). There are so many worsted options, it’s hard to go wrong with a sweater like this!