Projects
She Got Me Again
D’oh—Judy Flores got me again. Dang it, Judy!
Judy Flores of Atlanta, Georgia is one of my knitting muses. She’s a constant, prolific knitter who is really, really good at picking patterns and choosing the yarns and colors to deploy to make those patterns; we share a love of grays, blacks, blues, quirky motifs, and a very occasional pop of neon. Forget about trend forecasts—I want Judy’s edit of what the grans who are killing it are knitting and wearing this season.
The latest Judy project that I can’t stop thinking about: her Boro, fresh off the needles.
Boro is a cardigan designed by the famous Danish designer Marianne Isager, named for and inspired by the Japanese mending tradition. It uses two of Isager’s own laceweight yarns, Spinni and Alpaca 1, plus her DK-weight Jensen, a DK, for a cardigan knit to a DK weight and a gauge of 5 1/2 stitches per inch.
That back
The color is brighter than life here, but: zoom in on the front bands, with garter-edged, graduated ribbing.
Doubling Isager laceweights is a formula I loved for the Tokyo Shawl, many years ago. My Tokyo Shawl is still one of my favorite things I’ve ever knit; it comes out every November or so, when a wrap with both warmth and heft is needed.
I know from that experience that an Isager pattern can call upon a knitter’s self-reliance. Although the book is still on its way to me, I think I’ll enjoy the challenge and puzzle of creating the faux mended patches, which are worked in simple mosaic patterns spiced up by intarsia. Not sure if there’s a chart! Adventure awaits.
I could order up the Isager yarns for my Boro, I do love them. But first, I’m going to try a little experiment to see whether MDK’s own Jane—held single of course, as it’s already a DK weight on its own—works for Boro. I’m optimistic because Jane’s base, with that gray-brown undertone from the Masham in the blend, conveys a bit of shadow similar to the effect of marling 2 strands of yarn together. If it doesn’t work, it will be because marling is key to the boro vibe of Boro. I reserve the right to change my mind!
Smugly, I finished my official Rhinebeck sweater in May—my Waffle Pullover, which was too warm for the weather by the time it was off the needles, and therefore will be brand-new come October. But wouldn’t it be fun to try to finish Boro in time for Rhinebeck twinning with Judy? Wait up Judy! Am I bothering you, Judy? What’s that you’re knitting now, Judy?
And since we’re talking about Rhinebeck sweaters—it’s mid-July, after all, time’s a-wasting—are there other new (or new-to-you) patterns that are calling to you for your festival season sweater? The comments are open!
Simply stunning – looking forward to your knitting journey, and possibly mine!
That! I want to do that. What a great way to start a day.
I’m sorry Kay but what knitter wouldn’t want to twin with you! Or is the correct usage twinning with you? ❤️.
Love this cardigan. Keep us posted on your experiment with Jane yarn.
Judy is the best. I am always inspired by her too.
Something tells me Jane yarn will work. I look forward to the pictures of your progress!
Boro IS stunning! I can’t wait to see and learn about how Jane(yarn) works. This sweater looks too complicated from the photos to be knit…..and there are SO many colors/textures, etc!! Thank you for sharing!♥️
OMG, love, love, luuuv this!! Rooting hard for a Jane solution which entails me knitting some Bluebell and cheery Marigold!
Bright and logical idea, I would think, Kay! Blues (my half-learned/half-cocked belief) can be a no-fail mixture because I’ve heard/read that “all blues go together” (my husband raised a questioning eyebrow on that one) so I think you have that aspect covered. But brighter tones might work too because of that Masham softening effect. (I’m staring at the creaminess of the Peony and Yorkshire across the room awaiting inspiration.) Looking forward to your experiment as I slog through what the first time was a joy of a ribbed hat, but a fatal flaw forced me into a total rip-out. I am definitely not a Judy. (I’ve always loved that Tokyo shawl, too!)
I’d love to know who Judy is but that sweater is absolutely gorgeous. I’m ordering the book, do I need another knitting book but who cares? Thanks, Kay, for sharing. Maybe this will end up as a virtual event?
I’m considering a vest next….they seem to be having a moment….I do love your style of writing….your sense of humour is uplifting….keep it coming!
WOW!! What a beautiful sweater! Thank you for pointing us to Judy’s projects as well. She is a knitter who digs in to all the fun things. I await your Boro testing with Jane. I’m so drawn to Isager designs but always pull back out of concern whether I’m up to the task. Lovely!!
I love Isager patterns and this one is especially great. Please keep us posted on how it goes with Jane. I would definitely consider making it.
The sweater is beautiful and I just added it to my ravelry favorites. Looks like a challenge but I’m pushing myself!
My favorite is actually the picture of Judy looking at the glacier with her ?granddaughter. We got to take the “little people” in our lives to Alaska this summer….ahhhhh…the lifelong memories:)
Perhaps the Shop can carry the book???
I would love to knit this sweater! Looks complicated but I would enjoy the challenge. Let us know how Jane works out
Love the concept. Just finished a Patchwork Cardigan Harry Styles fashion in pastel pinks and Grey’s. All my little pieces yarns knitted into a Bohemian style sweater. Hours spent threading yarns away.
I am planning to use Noro to make my Boro! (I have a lot of blue & brown Noro cotton blends in my stash.)
Sadly the directions for Boro are written only. I’m making my own chart so I can see how the patches work. If Kay makes one too maybe we can compare!
I’ll share my big discovery: Isager gives directions for a stitch pattern 4, which is used in the swatch but doesn’t appear in the sweater directions! It is the same as stitch pattern 1, just offset by 2 stitches (and shown in a different color). Onward to knitting adventure!
The book (A Knitting Life 3: Tokyo Tversted) is absolutely exquisite, full of must-make sweaters. I want to knit them all–some in multiple colorways.
Sounds wonderful! Where can you get it? I looked on amazon Canada and no such luck.
Another beautiful pattern knit with double strands of yarn! I have a question about knitting with doubled strands that I’m hoping Patti can answer: when held double, the yarn twists a tiny bit with each stitch, one yarn twisting around the other. After a while this kinks up the yarn & uses more of one skein than the other. It helps to keep the balls of yarn in yarn bowls on the floor & every few stitches shake out the doubled working yarn to distribute this extra twist along the length, but eventually I find it necessary to stop knitting & untwist them. All of this makes the yarn a bit uneven to work with, as sometimes it’s more highly twisted than at other times in the knitting, & the problem of using up more of one ball than the other remains. Are there tricks to minimize this extra twisting? Using yarn doubled is such a popular technique, but I haven’t seen any mention of this issue. Thanks so much!
I se the upside-down method to untwist yarns when I’m working with two colors.
Push your yarn away from the points (and/or add point protectors if you’re nervous) and then let go of the piece. Reach down the working strands of yarn until you are near the point where they are coming off the balls (before they have started to twist around each other) and hold one strand in each hand. Now just lift up until your working piece is (gasp!) suspended in mid-air and move your hands gently apart. Your working piece will twirl around giddily as those strands untangle themselves. Keep an eye on things to make sure the twirling stops when the tangles are all gone. Repeat as necessary!
(Obviously, this works better for small pieces like socks or hats. If you’re six skeins into a queen-sized blanket worked with two strands … you’re on your own!)
That is one wonderful cardigan!!! Can’t wait for you to see if Jane works —I might be twinning with you, Kay!
For Rhinebeck, I just cast on a Humulus with yarn I bought in March in the Faroe Islands. Pretty sure it will be too warm, but I’m dying to knit it, so off I go. If I knit faster than I’ve ever knit before, perhaps I’ll make a fresh cardigan to take, too….
Wow, that sweater is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing this.
What a beauty of a sweater! Jane, I think would be great.
Let us know how it goes.
Goes to check out stash…..
Great sweater, looked at the pattern and saw that it was knit on 2 and 4 needles. I remember emailing back-and-forth with you Kay as we are both loose knitters and often drop down 2 or so needles. I am imagining churning this out on 1s or 2s and I snorted my coffee up and out my nose. Best of luck and can’t wait to see WIP.
This sweater will haunt me I think — I look forward to hearing what you decide about the Jane. However it works out, it’ll be gorgeous. Off to find out how I can stalk Judy 😉
How did I miss this? Not that I will probably knit it but holy cow! It’s gorgeous.
OMG! This design is brilliant! I had just been thinking of combining different stranded knitting patterns in a single garment in one compartment of the knitting brain, while thinking of the many uses of Japanese short rows in another part of the brain and this image brought them together brilliantly!
Wow! That one is a doozy! I might actually be going to Rhinebeck this year, and I’m very excited about the possibility of a dream coming true. I haven’t thought about my sweater yet. Perhaps I’ll design something special.
Living in Oregon has required me to purchase cardigan sweaters because the weather is unpredictable. All of my sweaters are knit in wool because I lived in Colorado for too many long years. I would love to try it in Jane first. I still haven’t found my knitting stuff in my many boxes from the move. The underwear was my first find and I’m never going to move again !
Ok, I found Judy Flores on instagram, thanks, Kay for showcasing her, an incredible knitter!
I’m in love with the Florence Sweater by Elenor Mortensen! It’s her Rhinebeck sweater for this year. No way I’ll get it done for Rhinebeck but I don’t care – it’s beautiful.
The Rhinebeck Sweater is purely notional for me!
Beautiful. Colours blended very well. Kindly email the knitting patterns.
Kay, thank you SO much for such a compliment! The sweater was so much fun to knit and it will be great knit up in Jane! Can’t wait to see it. And thanks for the grandkid credits, they are both beyond thrilled
The book is a delight to read, and I’d like to knit about half the patterns in it. Boro is a beauty. There are no charts for it, and I’d feel compelled to make my own, at least a layout of the patches. I will watch with delight, Kay, as you make this, it’s a work of art and so ‘you’.
Love this sweater. Keep us updated.
Love that, and especially the Japanese mending tradition.
But speaking of Rhinebeck, my sister and I are swatching for Ooey Gooey by Andrea Mowry. I’m stash diving into mYak Tibetan Cloud, and hope I have enough yardage for the main color! I have a feeling I’ll be strategizing for yarn chicken!
My dear Kay,
Why do you always find these amazing patterns? My queue is already too long!
It’s a gorgeous sweater and I look forward to seeing your Jane version of it.
This is beautiful! Looks like a fun project.
Hi Kay, I am also intrigued by the Boro and still hitting myself for not getting the Tokoyo Shawl kit the first time I went to a certain Nashville area yarn store while in the area for my first Shakerag retreat (it’s now unavailable – but I’ve already sourced the bits & pieces elsewhere). That said, I just finished my Waffle Pullover (with Jane & a variegated yarn from Ross Farm acquired at NashFest 1.0) so here’s hoping it will be cold enough to wear it’s cozy goodness come Rhinebeck time. It’ll be fun to “twinsies” with you!!