Bamboo Bloom Wrap-Up

    When I started the Bamboo Bloom Raglan, it was my first time designing a bottom-up raglan sweater. I thought it would be nice to share a few thoughts now that it's officially out in the world —and now that l'm giving myself a little breather and just knitting for fun again.

    This project was possible thanks to a Christmas gift from my dad a couple years ago—I sent him a link to a 5-pack of Bamboo Bloom in the Wabi Sabi colorway, and he ended up buying me three of them, not really knowing how much yarn I might need. It gave me plenty to experiment and rework the pattern as I figured things out. Later on, I picked up a few skeins of Bamboo Bloom in the Kabuki colorway too, just to give my eyes a break from staring at the same color.

This pattern was definitely a process. I ended up making six versions before landing on the final samples:

Version 1: I tried shaping the neckline with short rows instead of binding off stitches and finished it with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off. After washing, the body ended up way too wide, the sleeves too short, and the bind-off didn't hold up the way I hoped.

Version 2: I gave it another shot in a new color (Kabuki), but still used short rows for shaping, and the yoke still wasn't right. I ended up frogging this one too.

Version 3: (Shown in my pattern sneak peek.) It was getting closer, but still needed a few more rows in the yoke.

Version 4: (Shown in my progress update.) | made this version for Jane, but it ended up too short in the sleeves and overall length.

Version 5: I frogged version 2 and used the yarn to make the final size 1 sample — shown here in the cover photo and in the final pattern.

Version 6: (Shown at the end.) The final size 3 sweater, which I sent to Jane. It fits her just how I hoped: slightly oversized and cozy.

A few surprises along the way:

• I had a lot of fun working bottom-up! It's nice that it gets quicker as you move up the yoke—no getting stuck on sleeve island.

• Even though Bamboo Bloom isn't mostly wool, spit-splicing worked really well and made finishing a lot easier. 

• And somehow, even though each size decreases a little differently, they all ended up with exactly 30 stitches between the front two markers at the neckline shaping. I’m not exactly sure how that happened, but it made me feel like I was doing something right.

There's a lot I'm proud of with this project:

• Grading the pattern thoughtfully across five sizes.

• Staying patient through all the trial and error (this yarn is beautiful, but definitely a little fussy).

• Pushing through all six versions instead of settling for something that wasn't quite right.

• And seeing Jane's final sweater fitting her exactly how I hoped—that made everything worth it.

    Right now, l'm giving my brain a little rest and knitting the Cloud Sweater by PetiteKnit using some Lang Cloud yarn I got for my birthday. It's been really nice to just follow a pattern again for a while and knit for the fun of it, especially after all the thinking and reworking that went into the Bamboo Bloom Raglan. I hope you enjoy the pattern — thanks for following along!

Jane’s mirror try-on — fits so much better!