Here I am in the middle of winter wardrobe planning, having gone through my mood board and gap fillers and to-knit list, on the brink of putting together some outfits and carrying on with my winter, and suddenly I am 100% distracted by these chic little superbulky raglans from Tara-Lynn Morrison of Good Night, Day. I mentioned the incredibly fabulous mixed-sleeve-stripe one in the last Elsewhere, and can’t get it out of my head, and then yesterday Tara-Lynn kindly sent me her latest ebook of her Minimalist patterns, since which time I cannot stop looking at the photos seen here: three variations on a simple top-down raglan. Top to bottom, above to below, they are Moosonee Sweater (abbreviated turtleneck), Kingston Cropped Sweater (solid or mixed-stripe crewneck) and Trefann (textured yoke).
The world is full of people hawking superbulky sweater patterns, and they often lead to garments that appear to have swallowed the wearer. Plus who has the closet space for some of those?! But what T-L gets so right is the proportions. Yes they’re superbulky (you can knit one in a day!), but the scale of them is wearable (even in my climate!) and every detail is just right — the yoke depth vs body length and sleeve proportion … they just work. And the way she’s styled them here has my name written all over it. Cozy sweater + slippery little dress + knee-high boots is one of my all-time favorite combos, and these pics are making me not only want to knit one or two of these sweaters to wear with pants and jeans right now (it’s 31 degrees as I type), but to actually dust off some of my dresses to go with them on our seasonal dissonance days. So yes, I’m slightly rethinking my day-old Queue.
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I love her stuff! I bought her last and most recent book. Can’t wait to make one of those sweaters!
Love these! Thanks for bringing T-L and her great designs to my attention. I’m particularly enamored with her Kingston Cropped Sweater.
Stay warm….it’s cold here in the South, isn’t it!
And so dreary!
I can see you in these, Karen. I do think one needs to be thin to wear them though. Love them!
I can’t remember the name of the super big light blue sweater you knitted a couple yrs ago. If you’re not wearing it much, maybe re-knit as one of these to see how you like them? They do seem perfectly big but not. I like Strathcona the best.
I auctioned it off last year.
Loved all the patterns! Great knits for Xmas presents for cute daughter and daughter in law! Thanks 😊
I looked at her e-book. Fun! I could wear a cardigan. I just knitted a hat with Rasta and it was done in under 2 hours. Immediate gratification!
This has amused me because where you are with super-bulky, I am only just hitting with chunky knits (Rowan Cocoon weight yarns). I don’t think I will ever embrace anything quite this thick. Perhaps as well as being thin (I can totally agree with that statement, Rathmore) they may be best suited to ladies a little taller than my meagre 5’2”.
You know, I genuinely think most things look better on women with more … presence, shall we say? But it might swamp you at 5’2″. I’d be curious, though — if you got the proportions the same (so it’s hitting right below your natural waist, etc) I wonder.
It’s probably only a matter of time before I try.
Oy, I want to knit with big, fat, yarns like super-bulky, but I have such a hard time manipulating needles larger than a US12, and even that’s pushing it.
I’ll just knit vicariously through those of you who can handle the big, bulky stuff.
I have big hands and still don’t really enjoy knitting on big needles, but of course it is over quickly!
Hi Karen, Thank you! You have given me all the feels – mostly I am feeling empowered & validated. I really appreciate this, so unexpected. I have been an under the radar knitter/designer for 10 years now, and still ask myself time to time “what am I even doing with my life”- but not today. I was like- wow, she gets it. It really is all about a cropped sleeve for instance and the proportions, and I don’t think this is just for one size, all of my patterns are for everyone. I am such a sucker for super bulky hand spun wool- & really just wanted to make it work from the beginning of my fiber crush & to be seen for this and for simple designs is so amazing. Thanks again. Btw, the dress is available in my shop too- the styling is always so important to my story aesthetic & so it was important that I sell the outfit in my shop too, by Canadian designer Amanda Moss- so thrilled you are into the styling. I was particularly inspired by Merly Streep in kramer vs. kramer.
Ooh, excellent styling reference!
I found it curious that the Ravelry pattern pages for those sweater patterns do not have any information about what size or measurement the sweaters are, and neither does their website where they sell the pattern. (The actual sweaters that they sell only come in one size, which makes me wonder if the pattern also only has one size included)
I think that the sweaters look amazing, and are beautifully styled. I do find it curious that none of the patterns on Ravelry list any information about the size and/or measurements for the finished garments though, and that information is not on the website where the pattern book is sold, either. The already knitted sweaters that they sell only come in one size, which makes me wonder if the pattern also only comes in one size?
I just looked more closely at the pattern, and it is written for one target size, but as T-L says below, it’s top-down, so there’s a note in there about at which point you can continue to increase if you like. For a more detailed explanation on how to modify a top-down, the method is described in full here: https://fringeassociation.com/2016/08/14/improv-basic-pattern-for-a-top-down-seamless-sweater/
Hi there, The sweaters are knit top down and allow the knitter to try on and customize the size based on fit, etc.- so a totally personal fit. Hope that helps.
This is great–I have just decided to make the Trefann my next knitting project for myself (following my current laceweight project, which is great but oof). Thank you!
Your hands will be like WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?! lol
Haha so true.
MUST. MAKE. ONE. OF. THESE. These are my favourite kind of knitting projects… fast. Otherwise I just get distracted. However those bulky yarns pill like crazy right? Any yarn recommendations?
A lot of them are merino and/or single-ply/roving type yarns, which can be a factor (regardless of gauge). Pilling is always a result of the fiber content, staple length, was it clipped correctly, how is it spun, and so on, so the answer is “yes and no”! But there also are painfully few superbulky options out there, so my feeling is the best way to get there is to hold yarns together. That way you have more control over what you’re using and getting.
Sorry to piggyback off of some one else’s comment but I’m just wondering how to gauge the yardage if I were to buy a smaller weight yarn? Do I just double it?
I love Tara-Lynn and her patterns, she is someone who inspired me to knit years ago. I was so in love with her designs and her styling (and still are!) and it makes me so happy that you shared her work!
Thanks,
Heather
Karen, I have been searching for yarn that matches exactly the blue denim color of the turtleneck bulky sweater. Do you know or can find out what wool brand and color was used for the finished product in the photo?
I don’t know — I see it’s not specified on the Ravelry pattern page — but I’m sure if you got in touch with Tara-Lynn she’d be happy to tell you!
Yeah, well, it looks wonderful on her, and probably on any flat chested woman. I do not mean that in any negative way, some days I wish I had much smaller breasts or that I kept the ones I had in my 20s. But let’s face it. It adds bulk, no matter what the length or the ease.
I completely agree with your sentiments and my bust has definitely discouraged me from bulky sweaters, especially those that are closed at the front at times. On Tara-lynn´s saved stories on instagram she does have some in the wild photos of her sweaters, and there are some bustier women who look amazing and make me feel like my large bust can rock a Strathcona sweater too!
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Have you ever seen a similar bulky sweater pattern that isn’t raglan? Raglans look terrible on me but I do love this idea…