Cloud Blouse

102cm/40" Cloud Blouse on a 86cm/34" mannequin

This is Cloud Blouse, designed by PetiteKnit and available to buy on Ravelry.

The pattern is written for two strands of a mohair silk laceweight. I used one strand of Rico Meri Mohair DK in shade Deep Sea.

Meri Mohair is a blend of wool, mohair and synthetic fibres, so it has a lot of haze. It also comes in a multi coloured thick and thin stripe and is available in 8 shades. There's a huge 275m per 50g.

As usual I recommend checking your gauge. Not only are you more likely to get a sweater that comes out the size you want but you'll also be able to check how the fabric looks and feels. This is especially important when you're not using what the designer uses.

The pattern specifies 20sts over 10cm on 4mm. I achieved this using one strand of Meri Mohair and 4.5mm needles.

(As an aside, a fluffy yarn, whether one or two strands of laceweight or one strand of DK can be worked at a looser gauge and not look stringy as the fluff fills in any gaps in the stitches.)

Cloud Blouse is a drop shoulder long sleeved sweater. It's worked from the top-down. When knitted in a lightweight mohair style yarn it makes a light and cosy jumper that's a wee bit dressy.

Although knitted top-down, it has a very different construction to a classic top-down raglan.

You start with the back yoke (the top of the back, from your neck to armpits). You are working back and forth shaping the shoulders with German short rows.

This is a useful tutorial on German short rows.

You then leave those back stitches on a holder (as I use KnitPro interchangeable circular needles I simply left them on an interchangeable cable) and pick up stitches on the left shoulder and shape the front neckline.

You then leave these stitches on a holder.

Again, I used an interchangeable cable.

You then pick up stitches for the right front neckline and shape that, before joining the right and left necklines and working back and forth on the front yoke.

You'll join the back and front yokes together, just knit across the stitches, and then you're just working round and round for the body.

I chose to do an extra stretchy bind off for the body as I was concerned the sweater may pull in and lose it's boxy shape. I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. I find Ysolda's instructions helpful.

When you do a stretchy bind off it's important not to do it loosely. You're already making the edge stretchy, if you work it loosely too you can make it flare out.

You then pick up stitches for the sleeves and knit round and round to the cuffs. I just cast off (knitwise) as normal for the cuffs

And finally you pick up stitches for the neck and knit round and round for a short funnel neckline. Again, I cast off as normal.

I gave it a handwash in some Eucalan, squished out the excess water and laid it out flat to dry. Straightening hems and making sure the sleeves were the same length. I then left it to dry completely.

I really enjoyed knitting Cloud Blouse.

The pattern is well written, although I do recommend you read it through before starting. This is not something I usually do but I've found it's the best thing to do with PetiteKnit patterns.

The construction method is both effective and fun to work:

The shoulder seam is very neat.
You're not managing stitch markers and raglan increases.
The stitch counts remain low until you get into the body section.
It's like you're knitting in 'pieces' so it feels like you're making quick progress... but no sewing up!

The self stripe of Meri Mohair works perfectly for this construction style.

When breaking the yarn and working a seamless sweater as 'separate' pieces (for the back yoke and left and right necklines, front yoke, body, sleeves and neck), a self striping yarn can look blocky and the colours disjointed. But the subtle colours and thick and thin stripes of Meri Mohair camouflage these colour changes beautifully.

Oh! And the meterage is amazing. I knitted the small size with a finished chest measurement of 40.25"/102cm and I used less than 4 balls.

Remember when working out how much Meri Mohair yarn you need you'll have to HALF the quantities shown in the pattern as you are using one strand. If you need help with this send us an email or pop into the Pittenweem shop.

You can of course hold two strands of a laceweight mohair together. This will allow you to play with colours, creating a marled appearance if you choose two different colours.