Get ready for Christmas!

Yes, I know it's only just October and for me it's too early to talk about Christmas but if you're going to knit something for Christmas, either as a present or to wear yourself, then you got to start now. And the new Let's Knit (issue 98) have lots of Christmas ideas from cheerful decorations to a cheerful, lacy alpaca blend sweater, perfect to wear for family days out over Christmas. And of course, the sweater is my design and it's on the cover.

I was so thrilled when Let's Knit popped through my letter box and I saw that my sweater was on the cover. 'Mulled Wine' is knitted in an affordable yarn, Stylecraft Alpaca DK which is lovely to knit with and it's machine washable and only £3.75 per 100g.

'Mulled Wine' is worked in the round to the underarms. The front and back are then worked separately to the shoulders which are joined using a three needle cast off. Stitches are picked up for the sleeves and the sleeve cap is shaped by working short rows. The sleeves are then worked in the round from the top down which makes it really easy to adjust the length of the sleeves. Just try it on as you go.

Once you've cast off the second sleeve, just weave in your ends, block and you're ready to wear your sweater. No sewing up!

'Mulled Wine' has a beautiful lace panel running up the centre front, waist shaping and a scoop neckline makes it look feminine. The alpaca adds softness and warmth. Don't let new techniques put you off. German short rows are so easy. There's an excellent video tutorial here.

I also had a design in the last issue of Let's Knit (issue 97) but I forgot to share it here. This is proof of how busy September was. I used Woolyknit Bluefaced Leicester DK for this design. Woolyknit is a British yarn and I loved knitting with it. For this asymmetrical cardigan I used a 'tuck' stitch pattern which is very popular with machine knitters. I've been wanting to replicate this stitch for hand knitting for a while and I love the result. It creates a very interesting reverse stocking stitch fabric. This cardigan takes it's lead from the runway with the left front being shorter than the right front. If you prefer the two fronts the same length, just knit the left front to the same length as the right front before adding stitches for the sleeve. The back is the same length as the right front.

Stitches are added for the short batwing sleeves.

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