Simple Sweater – Handspun Stripes

The Simple Sweater (from our popular Basics Collection) is now in the Tin Can Knits app! Buy it on our website (or in the app), and you can knit it using the convenient one-size-at-a-time format in the app!

I’ve knit this pattern MANY times… but I think this Simple Sweater that I made for my littlest, Neve, is my favourite of all time!

Project details:

Pattern: The Simple Sweater (available in the Tin Can Knits app too!)
Yarn: Handspun SpinDelicious and mohair and single ply socks from La Bien Aimee

A Joyful Journey

First… I used handspun for one of the stripes. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE knitting with my handspun. It’s like an adventure in every stitch, and comes with the immense satisfaction that I MADE the yarn!

Secondly… I used a combination of mohair and single-ply sock (these are from La Bien Aimee) for the other stripe colour. And, well… there’s few things more fun for me than playing with mohair. The combination of the bright neon pinks and oranges and yellows in the handspun with the vivid teal of the mohair combination…well, for me, this knit really sings.

A Time at Home

One of the first celebrations of returning, with my family, to my home town on Vancouver Island was a trip with Alexa and her family to the west coast of Vancouver Island, to camp next to the beach. This part of the world holds many warm memories for me and Alexa too.

Alexa and Emily's families, all in hand-knit sweaters, on the beach.

This special place is part of the the traditional lands of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Tla-o-qui-aht and Yuułuʔiłʔatḥ peoples – as we visit and enjoy this place, we acknowledge that we are settlers on indigenous lands. More on our land acknowledgement here.

Creating these vivid stripes

Detail of a knit sleeve with handspun and mohair in neon pink and pale teal.

I spun the 2-ply yarn before I knew what I’d make. I’m not a spinning expert, in any sense of the term… but I find the activity very soothing and appealing. It’s one of those desires that I have a VERY difficult time explaining with any rationality. Why do I love it? Because I do.

I used the two braids on the right; rainbow and neon peach.
The two single-ply strands.
After finishing.
Really pretty skeins!

The two-ply was made from these exquisite braids by SpinDelicious. One ply is Tangerine Dream, and the other ply is something like Day Glo. The result is a self-striping yarn with bright pinks, neon oranges and yellows… all with a slight speckle effect due to the plies randomly combining. Essentially the most exciting and pretty thing I’ve ever made!

The mohair combination is La Bien Aimee merino single in ‘Life Aquatic’ held together with a Mohair Silk in a medium teal colour I bought back in 2019, it was ‘Amelie’ I think? This combination is a very happy one.

In this top-down Simple Sweater, I worked unequal stripes: five rounds in the neon handspun, and three rounds in the mohair. I just wanted to see what would happen; and I love the effect! When using a colour-shifting yarn in sweater body and sleeves, it can sometimes look odd, because the colours shift faster on the body than they do on the sleeves, due to the different diameter of the tubes. I’ve found that breaking the colour-shifting yarn’s pattern up with stripes can help mitigate this effect. For hem and cuffs, I worked in Rainbow Heirloom Sweater in Daydreamer, rather than in either of the stripe yarns.

Support and Simplicity!

The Simple Sweater pattern includes a LOT of value – it’s sized from baby-to-big, and also includes 3 yarn-weights: sock/sport, DK, and worsted/aran. If you buy it on our website, ravelry, or in the app, you can knit it in the app…where you view ONLY your size numbers! And if you reach a technique you’re uncertain about, just tap the + icon on any instruction, for links to support tutorials!

Download the free Tin Can Knits app and give it a try today!

~ Emily