Knitting a Stonecrop Pullover

The Stonecrop Pullover has been on my mind for a while, I remember seeing it back when it had just been released and I knew I wanted to knit it at some point. It uses two colours and features stranded colourwork, crochet bobbles and cables. I really liked the colours used in Andrea's original sample so wanted to follow a similar colour scheme. Earlier in 2020 I purchased four skeins of 100% Superwash Merino 4ply from Old Maiden Aunt Yarns in the colour 'lon-dubh' to use as the main colour. For the contrast colour I purchased two skeins of Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool in the colour 'Cold Comfort' from Loop, this was the same contrast colour as was used in the original sample. They stayed in my stash for a while as I worked on other projects, but by November I'd decided I'd like to knit a new jumper to wear on Christmas Day and the Stonecrop Pullover seemed like a great choice.

I started with knitting a gauge swatch and got gauge on my first attempt, however after I'd knitted the ribbing I must have forgotten to switch to the larger needles, and ended up knitting the whole body with the smaller needle size. Thankfully it still fitted correctly, so wasn't too much of a disaster; I did size down my needles for the hem and sleeve cuffs rather than continuing to use the same needles. The pattern also warned that you may need to size your needles up for the sleeves as your tension may change when working in a smaller circumference, so I switched back to using the larger needle size that I should've been using for the body. I think it worked out well, the jumper fit despite my errors and the sleeves and body both appear to have the same tension.

This was probably the most complex project I've ever knitted, due to the number of different techniques used. At first glance the pattern looks a bit intimidating, but I found once I started working on it one step at a time it was really quite easy to follow. This project was my first time ever using half double crochet bobbles. I was definitely very slow at them at first, but once I'd had some practice I found I could speed up quite a bit. I think the bobbles helped with adding extra texture to the pullover, along with their surrounding cables.

I did find sticking to my Christmas deadline a bit tricky, as the amount of detail in the pullover means it takes a fair amount of time to knit. I had some time off work in December and was using a lot of my time to work on this project. I managed to get the second sleeve done a few days prior to Christmas and did manage to get it blocked and ready to wear in time, but I definitely had to give my hands and wrists a break from knitting for a few days afterwards. I certainly won't be underestimating the amount of time needed for a complex fingering-weight pullover again!

Overall I'm very pleased with my finished Stonecrop Pullover, it's definitely one of my favourite finished objects. It fits me well and I really love how it's turned out and can see myself getting a lot of wear out of it. I would absolutely recommend the pattern, I had no issues with it and found it very clear and easy to follow. I think if it wasn't so time consuming to make I'd knit myself a few more!