Welcome all to 2026! A very happy new year to you and to your families.
It’s the start of the new year and a good time to look back and to look forward. There’s progress (and probably some steps back too) but I hope that overall it’s been a satisfying knitting or crocheting 2025.
What are your plans for the coming month and year? New projects, finishing old projects or learning new techniques? What’s on your needles or hooks even now?
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A very happy new year to you too salmonmac and to all my knitting friends here. I’m so glad to have been here for all the help and learning over 2025 and looking forward to another year of knittinghelp.
I have given away several sweaters which I enjoyed knitting but didn’t so much enjoy wearing, my goal for this year is to keep working towards things I like wearing. Style, size, colour, yarn, these are all variables I want to try to get right, or closer to right.
With that in mind I have been swatching and frogging a whole lot.
Here’s one of the swatches, a Japanese cable and lace pattern in 3 different needle sizes, followed by a trial of a modified seven seas cable which I tried today with an alteration and a needle size change part way through. I think I might go for this as an all over cable on a sweater, inspired by the wishbone sweater on another thread but different cables, different neck, different yarn so basically it’s different.
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Hepsibah, the question is, small banana, or large banana?
Impressed with the slippers regardless of the size. It all looks far too tricky for me.
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That’s a great success!
You’re very kind lol. I gave them a bit of a stretch and they look much better. They’re sitting on a radiator drying now.
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Looks like a perfect fit! Very nicely done.
Hey, wish you a very, very happy new year ahead to you and your family.
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Have never tried knitting socks or slippers, so that might be on my list this year.
Looks great on you. Well done!
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I was going to make my first sweater with a Ravelry pattern as a gift for my mom before 3/1. Well i showed her the pattern and she hated it. I have since spent the last 3 days learning all about seamless top down yoke sweater design, german short rows, yoke depth vs color chart and believe i have successfully designed my first sweater pattern from complete scratch. Heres the theory on paper and i will update with product hopefully before March. CHEERS!
Yarn is Feels like Butta medium 4 in teal for base with a light blue color for color work. 4mm needles. Pattern is credit to Andrea Rangel from the book knitovation.
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I love that you’ve designed a sweater for your mum, what a special gift!
I usually make so many swatches i could have made several sweaters the amount of knitting and frogging I do, I often rip back or reknit entire sections of a sweater before I finish the final item. I saw one of roxanne richardson’s pod casts today where she had made a “swatch” of a top down round yoke sweater (Ranunculous sweater) all the way from top to underarm in spare yarn. She did it to work out some sizing and modifications she wanted. It made me feel a lot better about all my frogging as she had about a third of a sweater with no plan to continue it.
All that just to say, even very experienced master knitters like Rox re-do parts, frog sections, reknit bits, so don’t panic if your entire sweater doesn’t go exactly as you might have thought it would. Sometimes in the knitting problems or solutions present themselves and it’s okay, all part of the process. Sometimes it’s smooth sailing.
My current “swatch” might turn out to be a sweater front, I’ve worked bottom up to the underarm and from here on it’s a bit experimental to see if the armholes, sleeve caps, saddle shoulders and neck shaping will be as I thought, or how they’ll come together. That said, I might frog the lot because I’m not 100% convinced I’m happy with the hem!
Looking forward to seeing your progress and hearing all about it.
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Well, I can’t wait to see this design in progress. It’s a process of trial and error but very satisfying in the end. Andrea Rangel is a good reference to use. Good luck with it!
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That’s quite a leap, from “my mom hated the pattern” to “oh, OK, I’ll just design one then!” I’d have spent days scouring Ravelry for something she liked. Good for you, diving right in!
Did you check with your mom as to what she hated about the original? I was once working on a theatrical costume and went through 3 complete mockups after the designer said she hated the first one. Turned out she just didn’t like the collar!
I’ve also seen people reject a knitting pattern because they didn’t like the color, apparently not realizing you can knit it in whatever color you choose.
We’ll all be eager to watch your progress, and offer help along the way!
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After 4 Norwegian sweaters for kids and blankets and sweater for granddaughter, I decided to knit myself a sweater. I’ve never done a top down or shoulder saddle, and have learned about 15 more stitches since starting. Front and back are done and halfway through the first sleeve. More to come when it’s done!
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So funny and so true!
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Looks beautiful. Lovely stitch pattern on the sleeve and saddle. I’m also venturing into my first saddle shoulder (I think) but I’m a long way off yet, still working out measurements and what size I want each part, this is the hardest thing for me.
I’ve been looking for a pattern for this yarn (Fibra Natura Cobblestone)
for a couple of years. I really want to try something knit top-down with set-in sleeves. I started a Ziggurat, but because I have 2 different dye lots, there was added complexity, as I wanted to use one lot for the body and one for the trim. It was proving to be too many variables.
I’ve now landed on the XX-one from von Hintern Stein. I think I like it, but would like opinions. I’m alternating the dye lots. Is it too chaotic for the stitch pattern of the trim?
I do love that the pattern states this so clearly!
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Do you like it? What I think isn’t really relevant if you like it. It’s kind of like a haircut that I don’t live under. lol Having said that, I personally wouldn’t use that yarn with a pattern stitch. I find that mult-colored yarns fight with patterns and there’s no clear winner most of the time. I think since you’re asking you could get tired of looking at it before the knitting is finished.
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Hinterm Stein patterns are very detailed and very well written. The ones I’ve worked required lots of markers (for sanity) but the details are all clear. This is a pattern I haven’t seen but it should be do-able with the two dye lots. You switch yarns at the edge so I don’t see it interfering with working the pattern.
Can’t wait to see it in the yarn you’re using!