Lee Wrapalong: the KAL to kick off your 2019

You made it through the holidays! January is here and the New Year is underway. You gift knitted your little fingers off and now it is time to knit something to reward yourself for all that hard work. I am so pleased to present a pre-order for the Lee Wrap which is a design that has been in progress for almost a year now. My favorite designs tend to involve a lot of trial and error and ripping out and re-doing and this one is no exception but my oh my, this cardigan is like wearing a big hug and I just want to live in it.

I’ve decided to do this release a little differently than usual because I am just so excited about this project. I’ve teamed up with YOTH Yarns and Fiber & Hue to set up a KAL deal with a variety of yarn options that work beautifully with this design. I wanted to give everyone time to place their yarn orders and maybe get a swatch or two done before we all CO together on the official KAL start date, which is next Tuesday, January 22. This will also give you a little bit of time to clear your needles, if you want to!

The wrap is constructed as a giant rectangle with set-in sleeves placed just-so. The sizing for the design is based primarily on upper arm with a very stretchy ribbed crossback, so you’ll be working your gauge swatch in stockinette as that’s how the sleeves are worked. The other textures featured in the design are totally reversible and you may recognize them from the Lee Blanket. The Twisty Rib is my favorite—it is a reversible cabled stitch worked without a cable needle. Jasmine (featured in the images above) is wearing her sweater oversized in YOTH Yarns Neighbor in Bronze (dyed by Fiber & Hue); I’m wearing mine with more fitted sleeves in YOTH Yarns Big Sister in Cracked Pepper.

I’ll be at Stitches West for the third year in a row in the YOTH Yarns booth; it’ll be the second year with Fiber & Hue and for the first time, I’m actually going to have my own little pop up shop in the booth too. So, it made so much sense for us all to work together for this KAL! Fiber & Hue Go to DK yarn will provide a very similar drape and fit as the YOTH Yarns Big Sister (shown on me, above) and Krista (the maker behind F&H) was kind enough to knit up a few swatches in pattern to show you how it works up. The colors below are called Siren, Troll, Frida & Ghost.

So without further adieu, here are the awesome yarn options we have come up with that we recommend for this KAL! Stay tuned to instagram as we chat more about how these fibers will produce slightly different fabrics. You can also see our test knitter’s projects on Ravelry. They look so good!

YOTH Yarns Neighbor (featured)
YOTH Yarns Big Sister (featured)
Fiber & Hue Go To DK
YOTH Yarns Daughter

YOTH Yarns is offering 10% off Neighbor, Big Sister and Daughter bases for our KAL with the code LEEWRAPTASTIC. Fiber & Hue is offering 15% off Go to DK purchases over $200 with the code LEEWRAP and you can get the pattern for $2 off from me with the code LEEWRAPTASTIC as well. All these deals are valid now through our KAL start date, January 22, 2019. When you purchase the pattern on Ravelry, you’ll be provided with a spec sheet that includes yardage information along with total skeins for each of our recommended yarns. You will also receive swatching instructions so you can get started on that as soon as you have your yarn in hand! And of course you are welcome to use any yarn you want in our KAL so I will look forward to seeing what other beautiful selections are represented, too.

I hope you are ready to jump on in and join me! I can’t wait for us to get started. This pattern is totally suitable for adventurous beginning knitters so do not be shy. Feel free to challenge yourself this year with this project. If you know how to knit and purl, cast on and bind off, you can knit this sweater. That’s the great thing about KALs, plenty of help is available for any questions that arise. The other great thing about KALs? Prizes. We will announce our prizes at the start of the KAL. They will be yummy and yarny!

Big Sister

Big Sister = comfy, wearable, stealable sweater, never safe from your little sister :) Knit in YOTH Big Sister in Mint

Shown in size S with 3" positive ease

Photography by Veronika, Modeled by Jasmine

In this latest version of Big Sister, I have added options for long sleeves. The original design featured 3/4 length sleeves worn slightly off the shoulder; now you can do whatever you like without having to do any math or extra thinking.

Big Sister Front

Other than the sleeve option, the design is substantively the same. I like to think it is a little prettier now though!

This sweater is knit from the top down and is seamless. It is suitable for adventurous beginners. This is a great first-sweater project. Skills required include provisional CO, picking up sts and basic increasing and decreasing. Even if you are trying these skills for the first time, I believe this is a great opportunity to give them a try!

You can find the updated version of Big Sister anywhere my designs are sold including my website and Ravelry.

Included that last image just in case you are into some Matchy Matchy...because the wee version of this design came out earlier this fall. Happy knitting!

ReGramps

When you get really excited about how pretty your new pattern format is... all of a sudden you have to vamp up your favorite older patterns so that they too can experience the new look.  I have been spending loads of time doing this lately (and maybe not enough time knitting, oops).   This is the first of several re-releases coming at you and joining the Kate Oates design line. Here is the new Gramps, one of my most popular designs ever.

This particular update has been planned for a little bit as I wanted to show off Gramps with an alternate look; a new sample and new pictures were required.  The other minor tweaks that followed just happened naturally during the process and I think just make the design even better.  I credit Veronika for almost all of these suggestions, you are a treasure Ve! She is also deserving of the yarn and photography credit AND she produced the gorgeous human who is modeling; you'll probably recognize Jasmine from other patterns (Blush, Big Sister) and of course lots of YOTH patterns as well.

You're looking at YOTH Yarns Daughter in a calming cream colorway called Natural Vanilla. This yarn has such great texture for cables. I'm working on something totally new with it as well and it has made me decide to cast on my VERY OWN GRAMPS as my Rhinebeck Sweater, after the new-new one is finished of course (no pressure). Did you know I hardly have any sweaters in my closet because they get knit up and then go on tour?  It is sad! But this way you get to see them in your yarn shops and at shows, like Stitches Texas which is where ReGramps is headed in just a couple of weeks.

Notes on the updates: I adjusted the size labels because I think they were a bit confusing. They matched how my original model wore her sweater (which was pretty fitted) but it is more standard to include a few inches of positive ease for a sweater of this style. For example, the smallest size is now labeled as XXS instead of XS and so on. While the Finished Chest measurements are still your guide to what size you want to knit, I just wanted to mention this change to stem potential confusion. The other size adjustment was in the upper arm where I added just a tad more ease.

The only real design change is in the collar which is now a little bit more luscious and cozy because it is deeper and along with that, the buttonband is a bit wider.  These tweaks make me happy all the way around and they will keep you warmer, too.

Lastly, I went ahead and adjusted the gauge on the pattern to reflect the new yarn choice in the featured pattern sample. It was very close to the original gauge but as you probaby know, even a slight gauge adjustment can change how a sweater fits and also how much yarn you need for your project!  I don't want to be responsible for that!

I hope you fall in love with Gramps all over again just like I did.  You can get this pattern for 50% off with the code KATEOATES for the first 24 hours through the Pop Up Shop. If you already have this pattern in your library either on my website or Ravelry you should already have access to the new version.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the new look so leave me a comment! Also, comment to tell me which of my adult patterns you would most like to see updated and added to the line.  One lucky commenter will win a copy of next week's pattern release.

Cheers,