Ainsley & Bridgitte from Wood House Knits

Every year I see a lot of advertisements for sophisticated holiday clothes, as though most December days are spent in sequins and heels. While there can be plenty of opportunities to dress up, there are plenty of moments for which something more casual is more appropriate. Jennifer Wood of Wood House Knits has designed a couple of sweaters that are both casual and elegantly special.

Ainsley was designed in Oasis, our camel and silk blend. It's a simple and polished tunic sweater worked from the top down, shown here in Kale.

The slight shaping is worked on the back of the sweater, and can be omitted for a straighter fit. The seed stitch at the cuffs and hems adds interest.

Brigitte is another cozy, easy-fitting sweater. You can choose a more neutral or subtle color for a more refined sweater, or grab something punchier for more fun!

This sweater was designed to be knit from the top down in Dreamy, a fingering-weight Superwash Merino, Cashmere, and Silk blend, shown here in Arizona.

Either of these sweaters is perfect for so many cold-weather occasions, from early morning soccer games to decorating the Christmas tree!

Click here to visit Jennifer's Ravelry store, or click the photos above to take you directly to each pattern's page. To find Oasis and Dreamy, visit our website to find a local or online retailer. If the yarn you're looking for is not available at your LYS, you can place a special order through any store that carries Anzula.

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Featured Designer: Irish Girlie Knits

This year at Stitches West we had a hard time keeping the patterns from Irish Girlie Knits in stock. Carrie Sullivan specializes in "deceptively simple, perfectly gorgeous" designs. Many of Carrie's designs are drawn from family events and family histories. For example, Knocknagree is the town in County Cork, Ireland, in which her grandfather was born. Knocknagree is also the shawl that is part of her Sullivan Family Collection and was crazy popular at Stitches.

She recently released Rathmore, the counterpart to Knocknagree. It's a gorgeous infinity cowl done in For Better or Worsted that carries over the pattern from the Knocknagree edging. It's shown here in Teal and Pesto.

Holbrook is a lovely shawl knit from Dreamy, shown here in Ballerina. It was inspired by the flora at her favorite park. She suggests it be worn as a scarf when the weather is chillier, then as a shawl as it warms up.

Another popular pattern at Stitches was the Lilianna baby/toddler cardigan. This is knit from Cricket, shown here in Mulberry. Watch for a more boyish baby/toddler sweater coming soon!

Besides the beautiful designs available on Ravelry, Carrie posts "52 Weeks of Happy" every week on her blog, We Do Not Have A Knitting Problem. She finds the happiness in the big moments and the small, which is an inspiring reminder every week.

Click over to Ravelry and see her patterns and the IGK group!

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Fit to Flatter with Amy Herzog

Knitting a sweater is an undertaking for any knitter, no matter your skill level. It takes a significant investment of time and yarn, and it can be incredibly satisfying if the right pattern and size are chosen. It can also be a disappointment if you are knitting along and realize that the sweater isn't going to fit, or isn't going to look the way you expected.

Amy Herzog's mission is to create sweater success stories. Her approach to garment knitting is called Fit to Flatter, and her “passionate belief is that your clothes should make you look and feel as gorgeous as you truly are.” She helps knitters find their inherent body type (as opposed to their size), and find patterns that suit that type.

She presents her approach in in-person and online classes, a popular Ravelry group, her website and blog, and now in a new book out this week. Knit to Flatter (published by STC Craft), is the published accumulation of years of work she's been posting about creating well-fitting garments. The book is filled with beautiful sweater patterns, but more than that, it contains all the things you've been wanting to know about choosing the right pattern for your shape and modifying your selected pattern to fit your body perfectly. The photos, by Karen Pearson, show each pattern on different models to give you a better idea of how each fits.

One of the patterns in Knit to Flatter, Dansez, is knit in Cricket. It is a luxurious scoop-neck pullover with lace details on the ends of the sleeves and body. Amy says that “it's a great example of how well lace patterning and shaded-solid yarns can work together. I think we often steer away from the combination because we're worried that the stitch patterning will get obscured, but (as Dansez shows) patterning and shaded color can really complement one another nicely.”

Knit to Flatter is available now at your favorite book outlets. It is currently a #1 bestseller in Crafts & Hobbies at Amazon!

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