Balmaha

I’ve made a new yoke jumper!

This is Balmaha

Ever since our new Milarrochy Tweed shades arrived I’ve had a yen to make a Còinneach yoke using Tarbet as the main colour . . .

So I matched the beautiful marine blue of Tarbet together with the subtle duns of Hare, the rich chocolatey hues of Horseback Brown, and the alternating cool and warm neutral tones of Smirr and Hirst . . .

. . . transformed the steeked cardigan design into a pattern for a cropped pullover . . .

. . and ended up with this.

Now, if you were a member of our recent club, or you own a copy of my West Highland Way book, you’ll already have the Còinneach pattern and, if you are interested in knitting a yoked jumper rather than a cardigan, you may feel completely confident with modifying the original instructions for this sweater. But if you don’t own the Còinneach pattern already or are a less confident knitter, then in the Balmaha pattern you’ll find that I’ve done the hard work for you. (We have received several enquiries about how to make Còinneach into a jumper, so if you wrote and asked, this pattern is for you).

We’ve also got Balmaha kits in the shop (these include yarn, pattern and project bag and the kit price represents a 15% discount on buying its components separately)

Why Balmaha, you ask?

Balmaha sits at the foot of Còinneach Hill on Loch Lomond’s eastern shore – so as well as being associated with the location which originally inspired the yoke design, it is a place I associate very strongly with the blue-grey lochside palette in which I chose to knit this sweater.

Now, I am well aware that the high waist-hitting length of this pullover may be divisive for some. If slightly cropped garments are not for you that is fine – but please bear in mind that by choosing to wear a sweater of this length I emphatically am not dictating the length of sweater you should wear. Nor am I, by wearing this design on my body, excluding any other body from looking the way they’d like to in this sweater: there is no waist shaping in the garment and you can therefore simply knit it to your preferred length to create the silhouette that suits you. Just bear in mind that if you are intending to add more than 2 inches to the length that you may need to buy an extra ball of the main colour. I’m wearing it in the first size with 2 inches of positive ease.

I am still rather enjoying the 70s vibe of pairing a waist-hitting pullover with a pair of jolly wide-legged pants.

I’ll be wearing my new Balmaha jumper and probably these pants in Dublin this weekend, where I’m looking forward to talking about my new book, Handywoman, at Woollinn. Will I see you there?

So if you are knocking about Woollinn this weekend and spot me in my Balmaha, please do say hello.

Balmaha is now available as a Ravelry PDF download, or as a kit from the KDD shop.

happy knitting x