sprössling

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a sprightly sprout of a sweater to knit in eager anticipation of spring. a lace rib pattern of tiny buds sets a nice vertical line, while inset shaping on the body accents all the right parts. create a form-fitting silhouette or knit it up slightly looser for a more casual shape—the curves won’t be lost.

shown above: size small in lanas puras melosa fingering, colorway fern green, found at one planet yarn and fiber. one planet has received a big new shipment of this yarn just today and will be adding all the colors to their site in the coming hours, as well as making a kit available—click here to view that listing.

my green sprössling is knit to be form-fitting with just an inch of ease, if that; i wanted something that would not feel loose if worn with a thin shirt or a cami underneath. i also cropped an inch off the length at the hem

shown below: rachael knit hers in size medium, using valley sock (i think it’s colorway hematite), a superwash yarn, in a slightly tighter gauge than the pattern calls for (her finished, relaxed chest measurement is 34 inches, which gives her a few inches of ease when stretched).

she and anne marie each used a plied superwash merino yarn and they both found that their sweaters grew a little when blocked (not so with the lanas puras fingering that the rest of us knit with)

this resulted in a slightly looser fit but obviously, still very curvy and sexy!

anne marie (below) loves the fit of her sprossling, which is quite different from mine—looser and more relaxed to wear over a shirt or turtleneck, the way she does here.

she used a gorgeous dark variegated colorway of briar rose grandma’s blessing, chose to knit size large, and was able to get the correct pattern gauge

the tonal variegated yarn does not take anything away from the rib and lace pattern—in fact, the little dashes of color seem to accent it nicely.

and then there’s jocelyn in her brilliant cornflower blue rendition of this adorable sweater, knit once again in lanas puras melosa fingering

jocelyn has been on a mission to get herself into the right shape and size of sweater for some time now and i think she’s succeeded and then some with this one. she and rachael are both petite in stature, so they modified the pattern to adjust for shorter lengths in the body and armhole.

this sets the waist shaping and armhole height at the right spot for them—and goes a long way toward streamlining the look of any sweater.

when barb (below) saw the green sweater on me, she was convinced that it was not at all the right cut for her; she is tall and well-endowed in the bust with very broad shoulders and slim hips (an “apple” shape, if you will). i persuaded her that it would look awesome and she was happy to test knit it anyway (barb really likes to knit).

well, it turns out that this is her new favorite sweater—she’s all set to knit another one. the shaping under the bust eliminates that boxy looseness at the hips that she often encounters in tops and sweaters, giving her a smooth line over slacks.

she followed along with jocelyn and me, choosing to knit her sprössling in lanas puras melosa fingering, colorway charcoal. she knit the 1X size, but knit the sleeves one size smaller, as her arms are long and slim. barb also added an inch to the body length and two inches to the sleeves.

so you see, we have five different body types and five different variations on how to knit this sweater to fit and they all look great. pretty versatile, yes?

to purchase pattern or view complete pattern information, please click here to visit the product page in the knitspot pattern shop.

lis and jodi at one planet yarn and fiber have a beautiful online shop, dedicated to bringing you the best of what the world has to offer, representing artisans and small businesses from around the globe. i’ve worked with their lanas puras melosa yarns several times, as well as a few others and have really enjoyed the experiences.

many, MANY thanks to our inveterate test knitters—jocelyn, anne marie, rachael, and barb—they work so hard, but we have so much fun. this project has been especially cooperative in that everyone finished pretty much at the same time and we’re very pleased to bring you a full range of photographs of each finished piece.

and of course, kudos to david, who did a beautiful photo shoot at coronado beach and moo time creamery in sunny california—a happy pattern release wouldn’t be complete without him.

and now, let’s see some more pictures!

69 thoughts on “sprössling

  1. Anne You have done it your really have this is the cardigan I have been looking for all my life! I bought it and plan on dyeing up some of my silk merino fingering weight right away to make myself a lovely perfect cardigan!

  2. This sweater is beautiful. As a sewer and knitter, what I find interesting is that the front decreases (dart, if you will) is not located under the breasts. In the final sweater in the 1x size I think if she moved the decreased section over under her breasts one section of cables she would enjoy the fit even more. This way it would match her body. Just a thought for us bigger gals. Beautiful work. Martha

  3. Ooh, it’s so much fun to see this on everyone who knit it (even if I AM blushing)! This is definitely the sweater that can work for anyone — you know I love mine!! 🙂

  4. Michelle, I did a 4 inch gauge swatch in pattern in Grandma’s Blessing and then washed it and allowed it to dry. I got gauge easily with #5 needles. I did make the sweater quite a bit longer than Anne’s. My length matches the largest size. Because of this I picked up more stiches on the button bands and ended up using 11 buttons. As far as yardage goes, I think I started with 1600 yds and have some left over. This was such a fun sweater to knit. The pattern is easy to memorize and Chris’ Grandma’s Blessing is a beautiful yarn to work with.
    Hope this helps.
    Anne Marie

  5. Wow. I’ve been admiring that sweater since the first time I saw it but thought it wouldn’t look good on my excess curves. I think I’m going to aim for handspun yarn and I should probably invest a little time in self-measuring before starting, but this is definitely going on my must-make list.

  6. What a great post, and a gorgeous sweater. On everyone. It was great fun to see the sweater on different bodies, and I was thrilled to see the sizing available. It’s lovely to see a sweater made with fine yarn. I’m sure they will be wonderful to wear.

    Reading your blog is such a delight, Anne!

  7. Oh, how could you do that to me when I’ve just vowed to finish some WIP’s and be good and not cast on…..ooops, too late – I’m off to play with yarns and think about it – LOL….

  8. I love the Hotel Del, I have not had time to read your blog in the last few days, but I hope you got to stay there for at least a night. Or drinks on the patio. One of my very favorite places on earth. I am jealous.

  9. No better place for photos than the Hotel Del Coronado. Lovely sweater and thanks so much for the photos and information.

  10. Love, love, love the sweater and photo shoot (my fav is the one of you facing the Hotel Del touching your glasses). Everyone’s sweater looks so different. I love them all – but the color on yours is a definite knock-out. Congrats on another great sweater.

  11. Still in love with the sweater! I just got back from hawaii last night and the blues of the ocean are still fresh in my mind. Fresh spring colors..I think I’ll be adding just one more charge to the credit card before putting it away!

  12. Thank you, Anne, for this great roundup of the Sprossling sweater on several different body types. I admit to being daunted to try it when I just saw it on you, since you describe yourself as petite, but now that I’ve seen it on various larger sizes than that, I can see it’s a good fit for lots of body types, and perhaps mine! It’s a beautiful sweater and a great success in design and presentation.

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