Kelley is knitting the Stonecrop Pullover by Andrea Mowry, and she's using our new yarn, Sasquatch by Coeur d'Alene Yarns, in Sugar Plum (3 skeins) and Rose Garden (1 skein).

Sasquatch is a hand-dyed 80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon blend; it's fingering-weight and comes in 450 yard/100 gram skeins. We have wonderful pairings of tonal colors and variegated colors died to match. See these beautiful yarns as the Sasquatch himself introduces them in our Technique Tuesday on Facebook Live (the big reveal is at minute 2:35)!

Pretty fun, right?!?

Knitting the Stonecrop Pullover

Andrea Mowry wrote this pattern to celebrate a popular festival, the New York Sheep & Wool Festival, held in Rhinebeck, NY each year. (If you're going, she's having a Stonecrop meet up on Saturday, 10/19 at 2!)

There are a lot of skills to practice in this sweater, including short-rows, stranded colorwork, crochet bobbles, cables, and the tubular cast-on and bind off.

Kelley shares some tips and tricks for a few of those skills! 

The Tubular Cast-On

This is a beautiful cast-on that provides a rounded edge, flowing effortlessly into a ribbed edging. Kelley demonstrates this technique in her live video at minute 16:30.)

1. Make a slip knot and place it on the right needle with the working yarn (coming from the ball) at the back and the tail end at the front. Place the tail end over your thumb and the working yarn over your index finger, as if you're doing the long-tail cast-on.
2. To make a purl stitch, take the needle under your index finger yarn and over your thumb yarn.
3. For a knit stitch, take the needle under the thumb yarn and over your index finger yarn. 
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the desired number of stitches, ending with a purl stitch.

Set-Up Rows

1. Set-Up Row 1: *K1tbl, Sl1wyif* repeat to end of row. (You're slipping all of the purl stitches with yarn in front.)
2. Set-Up Row 2: *K1, Sl1wyif* repeat to end of row. (You're slipping all of the purl stitches with yarn in front.)

Now you can join in the round and knit ribbing as called for in the pattern.

Tip: To estimate the yarn length you'll need for this cast-on, wrap the yarn around your needle for each stitch to be cast on. Measure out 25 stitches and use that length to measure out the length of yarn you'll need to cast on the called-for number of stitches, including a 6-inch tail.

Underarm Cast-On

Andrea likes the e-loop method for underarm cast-on stitches, but Kelley prefers the cable cast-on because it's not as loose as the e-loop cast on, and it's more structured.

Crocheted Bobbles

Kelley has a tip for you to make sure your bobbles don't fall through to the back of your work. After making those cute bobbles, you want to make sure they show up well! 

Check out her tutorial and tips at minute 12:04! Kelley likes doing the bobble using a Handi Tool or small size crochet hook.

There's a knitalong on Ravelry for the Stonecrop Pullover if you want to do it with a group. You have to post your finished sweater in the “Stonecrop FO” thread by midnight EST on November 2nd.

I'll be adding onto this post next week when Kelley shares more about her experience knitting this beautiful sweater!

Cheers,