Pacific Crest!
Pacific Crest is Elizabeth Doherty’s latest pattern, published just this week! Elizabeth is a genius at math and figuring out how to design a top-down sweater that is interesting to knit but not difficult. My Sister Knits is one of the first local yarn shops in the United States to have a sample on display!
This gorgeous pullover can be loose and boxy or closer fitting. You can knit the zig-zag pattern all the way down as the pattern is written or change to stockinette when the yoke is done! The sleeves can be any length you wish! Knit all the way down to full length, they are closer fitting. Knit to somewhere between your elbow and your wrist, they are looser. The length of the sweater can be easily adjusted also!
Pacific Crest calls for two lace weight yarns held together which generally equals a sport weight yarn. The sample in the shop was knit with Shibui Lunar and Tweed Silk Cloud held together throughout. The result is a super soft, lightweight sweater that is buttery next-to-skin wear!
Possible Shibui Lunar and Tweed Silk Cloud/Silk Cloud pairings
There are so many possibilities for yarn for this sweater! Of course the Shibui combination is luscious and flies off your needles because it’s so smooth and silky. Lunar is a blend of 60% Merino and 40% Silk. Tweed Silk Cloud is a blend of 65% Silk and 35% Mohair. Merino gives this sweater softness, silk gives it shine and strength, and mohair gives it a hint of fuzziness. Altogether a heavenly fabric!
However, if you’d rather expand your yarn options, use any two lace weight yarns that have drape, or a sport weight with plenty of drape. To test this, do the ‘flop’ test. Scoot the label down as far as possible towards one end. Hold the yarn upright in your palm with the label end closest to your hand. See how far over the yarn ‘flops’. If it stands practically straight up on its own your sweater won’t have nearly as much drape as if it falls over! You may choose the yarn with the lower flop factor and the sweater will still work, it just will be more structured. With this information you can make an informed decision about which yarn to use!
If you want to make Pacific Crest a loose, flowy sweater don’t be afraid to go up in size quite a bit! The sizes available are finished bust circumference. When figuring out how much ease you want it’s important to remember that this is for the entire sweater which is often easy to forget! Using your bust measurement as a base to add ease, realize that you need to count in the front and back of each side.
Say you think you want to add eight inches of ease. Divide in half to get the amount of ease for each side (right and left) which would be four inches. Ahh, but you have a front ride side and a back right side so those four inches of ease need to be cut in half again, which gives you two inches of ease at the front and the back. Now, take a look at what you have on. Pinch the sides close to your body and measure the ease. You’ll most likely be surprised at the amount of ease needed to make a loose-fitting drapey sweater! So, don’t be hesitant to make a sweater that is waaaay bigger than your bust size!
For example, if you want two and half inches of ease at each side ( 2 ½ in front and 2 ½ in back = 5” per side), that equals ten inches of ease so you’ll need to make the size that is ten inches larger than your bust! That is hard for some of us to wrap our brains around!
We know that Pacific Crest is going to be quite a popular sweater this fall and we are excited to see what colors and yarns you choose to make this fun-to-knit sweater!
Happy knitting,
