Knit Issue 10 Jo Sharp Cotton T shirt

The Desert Garden Aran jumper in Knit Issue 10 has been lurking at the back of my project list for a few months now. With warmer weather, I have faithlessly abandoned my blanket in progress, and my 1/3 completed wooly waistcoat, and frivolously started on this top 2 weeks ago - on a weekend away camping. (Yes, we did need our beanies at night, and they were beautfully warm)



The Desert Garden jumper was a perfect knit for car travel, easy stitches, washable, non-fuzzy cotton/microfibre yarn, and I was happily up to ball 4 on the sleeve/upper bodice section whilst still on the drive north west (passenger, naturally) when I ran into a problem. The ball I pulled out of my knitting bag was not the same shade. Horror! I had pulled the yarn straight from the shop shelf on Friday, not looking very closely, knowing that there was only one dye lot per yarn on the shelf. What could have happened? Alas, I had a mixed bag of colour Solstice 237, a white/cream shade, and Stark 668, which is, as the name suggests, Stark white. I had no other knitting project with me, what could I do but start a second top in Stark?

As I had more of the Stark with me than the Solstice, I progressed further with the second top during the weekend away, and have now finished it, much to the displeasure of daughter the second, who had dibs on the first one. As this is a quick knit, I might manage to get hers finished too before the very hot weather starts.

I am afraid that I cannot agree with the magazine that this is a t shirt. In my opinion, this garment is a boat neck jumper. It is designed with a loose tension, so that an undergarment in a contrasting colour is visible underneath. It would be rather cheeky worn without an underlayer.



This particular jumper is size B, for a 90 cm chest. The smaller size is for an 80 cm chest, slightly smaller than the dimensions of the recipient, and my daughter did not want a close fitting or negative ease garment, hence the larger size. I have lengthened the sleeves, and the body, slightly, to fit my daughter, but still used only 10 balls. The printed pattern called for 24 balls for this size, which was an errata corrected by the Jo Sharp team to 14 balls, but in my knitting, even with lengthening, I was 4 balls short of this.

Knit Issue 10 Reversible Wrap

After my first winter cardigan was spirited away, I felt an absence in my wardrobe. I needed a new cardigan quickly. (Hmmm, the first one was a quick knit too, I must be feeling a bit impatient lately). Fortunately, there is another quick to knit cardigan in the same pattern book, the reversible wrap.


I knit it in Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, colour Asparagus, #426. It only took 7 balls, which I thought was pretty good for a big warm cardigan . I love this yarn, and the colour is gorgeous.






I quite like the cardigan worn in both directions, which surprized me, as the deservedly popular Origami top from Knit 7, which is much the same dimensions, really only appeals to me in the shawl collar direction, although the bolero direction does look fabulous on other people.



I like the shaping that the corrugated stitch pattern gives to the back of the jacket.

I did have some trouble sewing up the cardigan, as the SilkRoad DK kept breaking in the arm seams during wear. I have not had this trouble previously, and think it must be due to the high degree of stretch required of these seams near the armscye.
I oversewed with a matching DMC stranded embroidery cotton and have had no further problems. I am wearing this so often that I really think I need another one....