Birkin

Sometimes I see a pattern and I just cannot help myself… I have to cast on as soon as I can. I fell in love with Birkin designed by Caitlyn Hunter the moment I saw it in Laine Issue 2. I don’t know what it was that appealed to me most, but the floral yoke was divine and the photography in Laine magazine was, as ever, utterly breathtaking.

Laine is not a cheap magazine, it is in fact, a bit of an investment, but it’s inspirational and I’ve knit several sweaters from within its pages. When it comes to these magazines, I treat mine more like a series of books or journals. I’d never cut them up as I do with my other magazines. I love to just pick a copy up and browse through it over and over again.

I decided to use Shetland wool for my Birkin. I chose a combination of Jamieson & Smith (J&S) 2ply Jumper Weight and Jamieson’s Spindrift. I’ve used both before and enjoy knitting with it.

The main colour is J&S 1280, which I bought as a 500g cone. Buying it on the cone is a very economical way of buying the larger quantity needed for the main colour. The wool on the cone is in oil for machine knitting but is also suitable for hand knitting. However, it is important to wash the finished garment to remove the spinning oil on the wool before wearing the sweater. Of course, washing Shetland wool is when the magic happens…

I love knitting with Shetland wool. It is warm and soft in my hands when I’m actually knitting, and once it is washed, it blooms beautifully with a fuzzy halo. The other wonderful thing about wearing shetland wool is that it breathes and I’m always pleasantly toasty.

• Contrast Colour 1 is J&S 65 (Leaves)
• Contrast Colour 2 is Jamieson’s 155 Bramble (Flowers)
• Contrast Colour 3 is Jamieson’s 998 Autumn (Flowers)
• Contrast Colour 4 is Jamieson’s 629 Lupin (Flowers)

The floral colourwork yoke is elegant but I would mention at this point that some of the rows in the floral section of the yoke have 3 colours in a row rather than the traditional 2 colours. I did go up a needle size for knitting the colourwork.

As usual, with Caitlyn Hunter’s beautiful patterns, I couldn’t get the correct tension when I knitted and washed my swatch. My tension was approximately 10% smaller than I needed it to be. But I really liked the fabric that I was obtaining with the 3.25mm needles for the main part of the knitting. I opted for going up a pattern size to knit the sweater. It seemed the easiest way to go.

The sticky issue of tension/gauge is covered in detail in the book “Knitting Pattern Essentials: Adapting & Drafting Knitting Patterns for Great Knitwear” by Sally Melville. She also explains it clearly in her mybluprint.com class “Wear What You Knit: Perfect Sweater Fit & Style”.

I was a little bit concerned about the depth of the yoke as my tension for the rows was also slightly out. My one niggle with Birkin is the lack of a schematic. I find that I refer to the schematic in a pattern a lot particularly when I have tension issues. It is something that I find very helpful.

I’m really not fond of bobbles on my sweaters so I decided to leave out the bobbles on the yoke of my Birkin.

Rather than wrap and turns for the short rows, as specified in the pattern, I used German Short Rows for the shaping on the back of the yoke as I prefer how they look.

As usual, before I cast on for a new sweater project, I looked at other knitter’s Birkin’s on Ravelry. I find it helpful to see if there were any issues that I needed to take into consideration. I also watched Episode 60 of the podcast Skeindeer Knits where she spoke about her Birkin. I noticed that other knitters were having a problem with the ease in the colourwork yoke as there are no increases across the shoulders for the full depth of the floral section of the colourwork yoke. This seemed to be more of an issue for people who liked a closer fitting sweater.

Birkin is such a gorgeous sweater that no matter what problems there might have been, I was definitely going to knit it!

I love the subtlety of the A-line body on this sweater. It was created by changing needle size every so often. I’ve since used this method to give other sweaters that I’ve knit a more A-line shape. It gives such a flattering silhouette to the sweater that works well for my size.

I didn’t do a split hem or change to the smaller size needle as I wanted to retain the swirly look of the sweater. I love the way this sweater looks on me. It has a lovely drape to the knitted fabric.

For the sleeves, I wanted a long sleeve rather than a 3/4 length sleeve. I knew that I was more likely to be wearing a wool sweater when it was colder weather and that I’d prefer the longer length sleeve.

I’m so pleased with my Birkin. It is definitely one of my favourite sweaters that I have knit and I always feel amazing when I’m wearing it. I don’t find the shetland wool overly itchy against my skin but I do wear a sleeveless cotton vest underneath it as I don’t want to develop any sensitivity to the wool. I like knitting with shetland wool and have other projects on my waiting list that I will use the wool for.

I find Caitlyn Hunter (Boyland Knitworks) designs are particularly nice to wear if like me you’re not in the smaller size range. I think it is partly because many of her patterns have a lot of positive ease so there is less worry about fit. There is an excellent interview with Caitlyn Hunter on the KristyGlassKnits podcast. They both have a wonderful sense of humour!