Alicia Plummer patterns – Yards of Happiness

FO: Bar Harbor for My Mom

Shall we start of the week with a finished object? I didn’t post this one last week and I had hoped to get a picture of my Mom wearing it but I didn’t before she left for travel (she’s a lady of leisure these days). Instead you get me modeling, not as cute but you get the point…
Mom's Bar Harbor
So you may remember my first Bar Harbor that was a test knit for Alicia Plummer. I knit the first one in Berroco Maya I had in my stash but saw another test knitter use Patons Metallic yarn and I knew I needed to make one with that. For my second Bar Harbor for my Mom I ordered some of the Patons Metallic because it went on crazy sale (they discontinued some colors) and decided to make my mother a version in her favorite color combo since I gave my mom her Christmas sweater, blue and bright green. With her skin tone those colors really pop on her so I knew that color combo would work well for this pattern.
Mom's Bar Harbor
My gauge in length is always a bit longer than what the pattern calls for so I have fewer stripes but you still get a striking effect. And this time instead of binding off all the panels of the shirt, then seaming and picking up stitches for the button band, I put them on hold and seamed up the sides and then just joined them to work in the round. I still got a nice clean edge.
Mom's Bar Harbor
And I decided to add a tiny pop of color with the lime green at the neckline because why not? I’ve still got a good ball and a half left of the green and I also ordered some of the Metallic yarn in black and I’m thinking of making another saddle shoulder top since it’s so nice and light weight. Green shoulders and ribbing will really stand out with the metallic black. In full length or three quarter sleeves it could turn into a great year round sweater to throw on! We shall see.

FO: Bar Harbor Test Knit

I mentioned that I finished this knit but didn’t want to do a full post until the pattern was released. Well, now it’s time!
Bar Harbor blocked
This is my Bar Harbor test knit! The pattern was released yesterday AND Alicia Plummer is having a 50% off sale! So you can grab it on sale!

I don’t do a lot of test knits but this is my second one for Alicia (this was my first). I like her pattern styles and her test knits are fairly relaxed. Plus for this one, you don’t have to know how to co any kind of colorwork! The construction to get the side panels was so clever and super simple. There’s just a tiny bit of seaming and because it’s knit on larger needles in comes together really quickly. The only reason mine took me a little longer than the norm was that I ran out of the white yarn and had to order another skein.
Bar Harbor blocked
The pattern calls for Quince and Co Kestrel but I used Berroco Maya (you may remember me using it on this pattern last year) that I already had in my stash. I love the lightness of this yarn and how breezy and great this top is especially on a hat and humid DC summer day. I also saw a gorgeous test knit using Patons Metallic yarn which is on sale and has some clearance colors too. I used this yarn a long time ago for my first North Fork that had issues but I loved the yarn and was thinking of ordering it in the blue and green and making this for my Mom! This is definitely an interesting and fun knit but still easy enough for a beginning. Let me know if you end up buying the pattern and share your finished object with me!!

June 30, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Color, FO: Finished Object, Knitting, neutral (black/grey/white), pink, Tees & TanksTags: #yardsofhappiness, Alicia Plummer patterns, knitting, summer knitting, Yarn 9 Comments

FO: Storm Tracker Test Knit

I signed up last month to do a test knit for knitwear designer Alicia Plummer. I agreed for a couple of reasons:

It was a worsted weight sweater, so I knew I could finish it fairly quickly (11 days)
The mock neck turtleneck style was one my sister would love and I still hadn’t knit her a new sweater.
It was a top down knit with textured sleeves and I’d been interested in that kind of design.
I had the yarn.
She didn’t have a crazy rigid timeline.

So I made the Storm Tracker sweate r.

Here’s the finished product. I modeled it myself because I knew I needed pictures for the test knit and my sister hates almost any photo you take of her.

In my version you can see I made only a few modifications. I went with 3/4 length sleeves because in the DC/MD/VA area we don’t always need full on wool sweaters. This sleeve length makes it a little less hot. Also the pattern called for 5 inches of neck ribbing and I only went with 3.

It has a little bit of ease built into it so it doesn’t just cling to the body and the hardest part for me was reading the cables once you work the sleeves in the round after you’ve separated them from the body. It’s a simple 1/1 cable but I had to pull my cabling needle out and I hadn’t done that in a while. I definitely love the texture and I can see myself making it with just an inch of ribbing at the neckline for myself. Oh and the yarn was Knit Picks Swish Worsted, their superwash worsted weight yarn. I had a bunch in a lovely heathered indigo color that I knew my sister would love. It washed up beautifully and was super soft when I wore it. I’d definitely use this one again.

Added bonus, I thought with all of our warm weather my sister wasn’t going to get to wear her sweater until next fall/winter but I was surprised at brunch by her and my Mom wearing their knit goods. I’m currently swatching to make a spring sweater for my sister Anne, so she’s not being left out.