My (machine) knitting year, 2025
Since I was not very constisten in writing any knitting news during the last year, I decided to at least give a quick overview of finished items:
2025 (sorted by topic and not chronological)
First, I finished the Birchcliff Cardigan in addition to the Birchcliff Vest that I started at the end of 2024 and did not manage before the end of the year anymore.
I was part of the Birchcliff Twinset test knit during fall 2024. The twinset is designed by Nic Corrigan and available on Ravelry. I knitted the Birchcliff cardigan in addition to the vest from the test knit – and planned as my Christmas outfit for 2024. My plan was to have a deep red vest and a contrasting dark green cardigan to wear with green pants. While the vest was planned in overall Fair Isle, the cardigan was planned as single motif. My time plan did not really work out. The vest was done in time, but the cardigan definitely not. I only finished the cardigan in March ’25.
Good, that the cardigan will also be nice for chilly spring days! It’s almost impossible to see on the photos, but I did use 3 contrast colors. Yarn is Holst Garn Supersoft, 100% Wool. I used the colors Cossack (MC), Oatmeal (CC1), Spring (CC2), and Clover Leaf (CC3).
The Machine Knit Communiy (MKC) was hosting a 12 month lasting KAL. Every month a hat was knitted from a different designer. I was not really joining the 12 month of hats KAL but I made the January Vesper Nightcap (designed by T Martin Studio, available on Ravelry) and the October Fisherman’s Kep (designed by Marie Bruhat, available on Ravelry).
The vesper hat was designed for a mid-gauge machine. But I used my bulky (chunky) KH-260 on MT 4 with DK weight yarn for the Vesper hat. I re-calculated the instructions for the hat matching the gauge I got with my yarn and tension on the bulky machine using the length and widths given in the pattern. I used Design A Knit (DAK) for the pattern changes. Since my bulky machine has no ribber, I learned how to reform stitches by hand to create hand-manipulated ribbing. The Vesper hat was “stolen” by my husband.
I used scrap yarn I dyed last year for the fisherman’s kep . It’s not the perfect color combination to let the fair isle pattern really shine. But the muted cool colors and subtle contrasts suit me rather well. The kep has a really interesting construction with hidden ribbing behind the headband – this leads to a double layer over the ears. I took it to my winter holidays. I loved how it kept my ears warm. Although, strong winds smacked the tassel every now and then in my face ;o)
I joined the “Painting with wool” workshop planning to make another blanket from the cotton yarn that was left over from the 2023 blanket KAL. The intention was to use some inspiration from nature or a painting to make some nice yarn windings. The windings will then be used to determine the color setting for the blanket. At the end, I did not manage to knit anything. That does not matter too much. I enjoyed the yarn winding and playing with yarn and colors nevertheless. Note: The art shown is AI generated, the yarn winding is real.
The biggest expericen of the year as joining the masterclass of Hannelie Bekker (Wrapt Knitwear) to make my very first knitted pants. Everyone is knitting scarfs, shawls, jumper, and cardigans. But pants are not really often on the needles. I was curious to try that out; especially since knitted loungewear was on the rising. The class included two different styles of pants, one with wide (STRIDE) and one with very narrow (TRACK) legs. I decided to go for the wide leg STRIDE pants because I really liked the shown example pants. I also loved some stripe details on the front legs.
I wanted to have my pants made from cotton – just like the shown sample. I like the heavier feeling of cotton for pants. And, to be honest, I still had cotton and don’t wanted to use the expensive merino yarn for the first try. I measured the inseam (lenght from bottom hem up to the start of the crotch) from some really well fitting pants to determine the size I wanted to knit. After swatching, and washing and drying the swatch the same way I would handle the pants later, it turned out that I did not manage to meet the exact row gauge and I had to adjust the numbers of rows in the pattern a bit. Luckily, the pattern is giving enough help to adjust it.
After knitting the separate pieces, I gave them a wash in the washing machine and afterwards even put them in the dryer on a low setting. That is the way I will also wash the cotton pants, likely later when it is not dry enough outside anymore to have them air dry. When I did this with the gauge swatches, I noticed that the gauge was changing quite a bit. Therefore, I also did that to the pieces of the pants to have them later on the right tension. I added an elastic and a cord to have the pants sitting proper on my waist. I did not make an i-cord since that felt to flimsy compaired with the heavy pants. I knitted a rib with 5 needles on the main bed and 4 needles on the ribber bed. And I added an extra seam with the sewing machine later to keep the elastic from rotating (not yet on the photo below) and the cord in the middle.
I complemented my pants with my own design for a slipover. This was the first time I designed something from scratch in DAK. I will do that more often from now on. Although, the program is driving me nuts often.
In addition to the third party pattern, I also managed to design three machine knit pattern in 2025. I plan to do that more often. I am starting small with some easy to knit scarf and shawl pattern. But I am intending to design more complicated pattern in 2026!
