mooch

For those of you who’ve not yet seen it, and with apologies to Secret Coast club members (who probably feel they’ve heard quite enough about this sweater already!) here are some photos of my new favourite pullover – Mooch

I’ve been enjoying developing allover colourwork designs a lot of late, and I really enjoyed knitting up Mooch a few weeks ago, when my design work on the Secret Coast collection was complete. It is a design I found a lot of fun to develop, as well as to knit up!

A simple 4-stitch repeat (resembling a tiny diamond) is knitted over Mooch’s body and sleeves. Worked slightly larger, over 8 stitches, the diamond motif morphs in and out of the background at cuffs and hem and then, doubling again into 16 stitches, in a variety of iterations, is worked around the yoke. 

You really get into a rhythm on the sleeves and body – and I found the yoke a deeply satisfying knit in the way the motifs speak to one another, and progress. I knitted a deep, cosy roll neck, but you could easily just work the top rib for an inch, if you don’t need to keep the wind off your neck.

I’m pleased with the end result – Mooch is the kind of comfortable, everyday outdoor sweater I really love to wear. 

For just mooching about in!

I decided to try combining two of our yarns –  Ooskit and Schiehallion  – in this pullover, and love the end result. These yarns are the same weight and yardage, both are made from blends of British fleeces, and both are worsted spun, with a lovely woolly handle. The principle difference between them is that Ooskit has 4 plies to Schiehallion’s 2 – plus, Ooskit is also formed from a lightly marled mix of natural fleece shades, while Schiehallion’s muted palette is dyed in a saturated, solid way. 

 I found the combination of yarns to work perfectly. The pullover’s main colour (the background) is Ooskit’s‘Riach‘ shade (a very versatile neutral), and the three contrasts are Schiehallion’s Eileen, Doris and Daunder. Yum.

It’s a palette that feels really soft and cosy – much like the pullover itself. 

So, if you fancy mooching about in your own mooch, there are kits in all sizes in the shop (35-61in), and the individual pattern is available from the KDD shop or Ravelry.

The spring sunshine has been truly glorious this week, but we are all hard at work behind the scenes here, preparing our Secret Coast book for publication – more of which very soon.

Enjoy the weather!