Like all my designs,
Tundra began as a vision, then began manifesting itself into a sketch and swatch before becoming a sweater. I knew I wanted texture, something cozy, quick- and fun-to knit—something with a hood!
For this design, yarn choice came first. When I think "cozy",
Quince & Co.'s Osprey yarn quickly comes to mind.
Read more about the Eco-friendliness of Osprey.
Next I picked up a book of stitch patterns and began flipping through it, while thinking to myself, "cozy, warm, and fun-to-knit" over and over. The all-over star pattern,worked on the body of the sweater, has such an overwhelming presence of texture that when I saw it in the book I just had to see how it knit up! So, I swatched a bit of the star pattern in Osprey, and fell in love. There was the cozy, cushy fabric I'd been looking for! Not to mention, the thickness creates excellent warmth!
I continued to flip through the stitch patterns in search of a complimentary edging for the star pattern. I tried a few different edgings, and thought the basket pattern offered the nicest edge. The slipped stitch made it more interesting to knit than the others I'd tried. I swatched the two patterns together and had a match I enjoyed!
Then, just for fun, and to see an alternative option, I tried the basket pattern again with a little white accent. I submit both options to Quince & Co to let them decide which version they preferred.
I enjoyed knitting and writing the pattern for this sweater quite a bit. It worked up SO fast, and Osprey is such a beautiful yarn to work with. The biggest challenge I faced with this design was maintaining the star pattern while increasing and decreasing. After a little trial and error, I came upon the perfect solution. Of course, it's all written out in detail in
the pattern!
Photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge.
