Hiplee

The knitters of a neighbour city have had a great knitting club this year where each month someone from the group has designed a pattern for everyone to knit. I actually have nothing to do with their local knitting group except that I absolutely love them, they're great folks. But it seemed this was enough for me to be included and they asked if I would also like to design something for them. And what could be better than to cheer up my friends with a knitting design!

What: Hiplee / Own pattern
How: Circular needles 4.5 and 5.0 mm
From: De Rerum Natura Ulysse, 300 g

For a long time, I've had a bunch of lovely organic merino from De Rerum Natura in my stash. And now I finally had the perfect idea for those skeins.

I wanted to design a sweater with a turtle neck starting from the top but that it would have enough shaping at the neck that it wouldn't feel too tight. My neck is very sensitive and I usually don't get along with high collars.

So there would be a turtle neck, short row shaping at the neck, overly long raglan sleeves and it should also be twisted ribbing. But to keep it from being boring, I placed the raglan increases and waist shaping a bit differently.

The raglan increases of the sleeves and the back are placed as usual but the front raglans aren't next to the sleeves. I placed the front raglan increases in the center of the front. This also makes it easy to tell which side is the back and which is the front when I'm dressing up in the morning.

And once I had started, I decided to have some fun with the waist shaping as well. The waist decreases and increases are placed on different sides of one stitch such that it creates an optical illusion as if there are only decreases.

Finally, I wanted to split the hem and make the back a bit longer than the front. I figured continuing with the twisted ribbing would make for a nice flowing hem with the split. So, I worked the hem in broken twisted ribbing. It made for an interesting surface and brightened up the design.

The sleeves also have the broken twisted rib. While knitting, I didn't know whether I would actually like the fabric but once I blocked the sweater it became my favorite part of the garment. Beforehand I was also a bit nervous wheter the turtle neck combined with ribbing would make for a terrible 90's vibe but luckily I was worried for nothing.

The robust and airy organic merino was the perfect match for the pattern. It feels light yet super warm. I've used this almost every day since I finished it. And once it gets colder, I think I'll wear this through the winter.

For the next three months, this sweater design is just for the knitting club but in January, it will be available for puchase on Ravelry.