Geofade Pullover
This article contains some tips and extra videos for the Geofade Pullover by Paula Pereira. Don’t have the pattern yet? It’s available for a limited time in Knitrino–click the button below from your phone to get the pattern.
As always, if you have any questions about this pattern, please email us at support@knitrino.com.
Table of Contents
Getting Started with Knitrino
If you're new to Knitrino, check out the Quick Start guide for short videos that show you how to use Knitrino.
Interpreting the Charts
If you're new to reading charts, this video explains how to interpret the swatch section. For a deeper dive, you may wish to see How to Read Knitting Charts.
Swatching in the Round with the Long Float Method
To make a small swatch in the round, knit as instructed using a long circular, and then slide the stitches to the other end of your needle. Continue knitting, leaving a long float of at least 6" between each side. Your edge stitches will be loose and sloppy, but the middle stitches will give you a good indication of your gauge! If you'll have plenty of yarn, for the project, we recommend cutting the long floats before blocking so the knitted fabric lays flat.
Measuring Gauge
Block your swatch by submerging in cool water and laying flat to dry. If you'll have plenty of yarn, for the project, we recommend cutting the long floats before blocking so the knitted fabric lays flat. Lay a ruler on top of the swatch and count how many stitches are in the center 2-3". Don't measure the sloppy edge stitches.
Here you can see there are about 11.5 stitches across 2"/5 cm, which gives 23 stitches over 4"/10 cm for the colorwork. That's pretty close to the target gauge of 24 stitches over 4"/10cm, but a little loose. We might want to try tightening up our gauge a little or going DOWN a needle size to try to get 6 stitches per inch. However, possibly even more important than your colorwork is your stockinette gauge. If you're knitting a medium sweater, and you have 23 stitches over 4", this will make your sweater larger than planned.
At the target gauge, the Medium Bust would be:
236 stitches / (24 stitches/4") = 39.3"
If my gauge is a little loose, my sweater quickly gets bigger:
236 stitches / (23 stitches/4") = 41"
If my gauge is a little tight, my sweater quickly gets smaller:
236 stitches / (25 stitches/4") = 37.75"
This can actually be a helpful tool when you're in between sizes (and in fact, in the old days, many vintage patterns would grade sweaters by telling you to knit with a different needle size!) But it's important to be aware of what your gauge is, as it impacts the size and the yardage requirements.
Casting On
This sweater features a folded, tubular cast on where the provisional part of the cast on is worked onto a spare needle or interchangeable wire. This means you don't have to go back and undo a crochet chain and put the stitches back on the needle, they're already on the needle! On a bigger needle, you'll cast on HALF the number of stitches needed for the neckline onto the working needle and the other half onto the spare needle. You work a few rows of stockinette, then bring the spare needle up behind the work and combine all the stitches onto one needle using [K1, P1] ribbing. It's a little mind-bending at first, but try it out once or twice and you'll get the hang of it. A few notes:
Keep your stitches nice and loose. Watch the video a few times if necessary. You can join in the round on a 18" circular needle, to make sure the cast on isn't too tight. If it is, go back and try again, or use an alternative cast on. Some of our testers preferred a German Twisted Cast on or just a long tail cast on. These work great, but just remember to double the number of stitches. If the pattern says to cast on 52 stitches, you'll need to cast on 104. Then just skip to the neck ribbing of section 2. The neckline can be aggressively blocked to make it wider.
Colorwork Tips
We've heard from a lot of new colorwork knitters that they're intimidated by stranded knitting - they worry that it won't be perfect. We'd like to give you all a little gift right now and say "It won't be perfect, yay!" If you're new to colorwork, recognize that you're learning a new skill and it will improve a LOT with practice. Think about your project as the **first** colorwork project you'll make - it's a journal that will document your growth!
Knitrino recommends knitting stranded colorwork with two hands. For most knitters, the strand of yarn that is carried lower than the other on the wrong side will create larger stitches and can appear more dominant on the right side of the fabric, so carry the float of the background color in the highest position on the wrong side, and the color you most want to pop in the lowest position. For most right handed knitters knitting with 2 hands, you'll carry the background color in your right hand and the contrasting or motif color in your left hand.
Everyone knits differently. Many knitters knit tighter when stranding and so often, patterns suggest going up a needle size. Some knitters, though, kit more loosely with colorwork. The goal is to have floats that lie flat without being taut when the stitches are well stretched out across the needle. Here are some tips you can try to improve your colorwork:
As you're knitting, spread the stitches out to keep the floats from being too tight. You can also adjust the tension of the carried yarn, if necessary.
Occasionally stretch the knitted fabric along the diagonals to even out stitch sizes.
Keep the working yarns in the correct positions, and arrange the yarn balls next to the hand you're tensioning with. When you lock floats, always return the yarn to the correct position to avoid tangles.
You can try turning the work inside out so the floats are facing you. This can help you see your tension issues and adjust as needed.
If a stitch is pulled too tight and appears too small on the right side, you can fix it at the end by making a duplicate stitch over top in the correct color.
And don't forget that blocking forgives a multitude of sins. :) If you're worried about your tension, try steam blocking or wet blocking before you're finished to see how your cowl will look.