Name: Felted Tweed
Brand: Rowan
Price: 10.5 GBP
Availability: InStock

yellow slipover

Caine, designed by Monie Ebner (available to buy on Ravelry), is a short sleeve slipover and is knitted from the top down.

You begin knitting back and forth to shape the neckline and then you join in the round and create the drop shoulders.

You then separate the front and back and knit each back and forth to make the armhole depth before joining the front and back again to knit the body in the round.

The pattern uses two yarns held together - a 4ply and a laceweight mohair silk. But I used one strand of Rowan Felted Tweed in shade 216.

You could use any DK yarn as long as you meet the same gauge as the designer.

I chose Felted Tweed as it's a lighter DK yarn with a subtle tweedy effect and halo making a fabric similar to a 4ply and laceweight mohair combo and a lightweight layering piece.

Caine has lots of lovely details which are all relatively simple to work.

The shoulders are made using M1L and M1R increases (your increasing slants left or right) and are worked in stocking stitch which gives a lovely contrast to the mistake rib of the body.

The neckline is a simple (K1,P1) rib for 3 rounds then cast off knitwise. It gives a very light finishing touch.

The same with the armholes.

The armhole finishing has two options. I did the easiest one - pick up all the stitches, knit one round, cast off knitwise.

Re sizing, the designer suggests 30cm/12" of positive ease, i.e. 30cm/12" bigger than your chest size.

There's a detailed diagram with all the sizes and measurements on the pattern. You do not have to have that amount of positive ease. However the smallest size is 113cm/45" so bare that in mind when considering fit.

I made the XS size which has a chest measurement of 113cm/45".

This is it on our two shop mannequins.

45" Caine on a 34" mannequin, with 11" positive ease

45" Caine on a 38" mannequin, with 7" positive ease

You can try on our shop samples and check the fit. Even if it's too small or too big it can still help you decide.

Now. I do have a confession to make. This took me 2 years to finish. It is not because Caine is difficult, I am just easily distracted when working on larger projects, especially adult garments.

Once I approached the body as my 'easy' TV/social knitting project I did chip away at it.

However, I did myself no favours consistently reading the pattern wrong. At first I thought I only had to knit 8" for the body. Coming up on 6" the end was in sight but then I read I needed to do 10".

I knuckled down and knitted round and round for even loooooonger THEN realised it was actually 10.5" with another inch of K1,P1 rib to do.

If, like me, you lose the will-to-live on in-the-round bodies set yourself some targets:

Resolve to knit X numbers of rounds a day.
Use bulb pins on your rows to mark your progress - a visible reminder of what you've actually done rather than what you still have to do can spur you on.
Oh. And leave it at the top of your coffee table/sofa/project pile. Don't pack it away otherwise you WILL forget all about it...😆

Caine was a simple project to block.

Although Felted Tweed says it machine washable I've heard too many shrinking-in-the-machine stories to trust it. So I hand washed mine and squished out as much water as possible in a dry towel. I then laid it our flat, straightening the edges and pinning to the measurements in pattern.