Bleideag

A yoked pullover I designed as a collaboration with my studio manager Bex. Her vision was to combine more affordable Létt Lopi as the main colour of a sweater and use Einrúm for the yoke, really highlighting its beauty.

£7.00

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Designed to use warm but relatively light yarn, this is a great pattern for a more experienced knitter or someone less advanced who wants to try stranded colourwork. It could even work as your first sweater project. Bleideag is a loose-fitting, drapey style that mixes the more affordable Létt Lopi as the main colour of the sweater and highlighting the yoke with Einrúm yarn. It’s available in sizes XS-5XL.

‘Bleideag’ is the Scottish Gaelic word for snowflake, which felt appropriate given the delicate snowflake-inspired yoke on this sweater style.

To make the Bleideag sweater, you work up from the bottom in the round. We've included directions for optional short row bust shaping and hope you can use this to create the fit you're looking for on the chest. The sleeves are joined to the body at the underarm, before moving on to the yoke. The yoke is also worked in the round, and decreases are subtly incorporated into the colourwork.. Short rows are used to lower the yoke at the front and raise the back of the neck so you end up with a shape that's right for you.

Bleideag kits

The Bleideag kit pairs up the sweater pattern with a suggested yarn in colour combinations we think you’ll love. For this sweater kit, we chose two Icelandic yarns, 100% wool Létt Lopi, and Einrúm, which is wool twined with Thai silk. We have selected four colour combinations of these two yarns to purchase as a kit in sizes XS - 5XL, featuring the pattern and enough yarn to complete the sweater in your size.

buy a kit

Pattern formats

The pattern includes the following versions:

3 column format pdf designed to be printed on A4 or letter paper
mobile format pdf optimised for viewing on small devices

Supplies

Aran weight yarn with good elasticity, wool or wool blends are ideal. Shown in Ístex Létt Lopi (100% Icelandic wool, 109yds / 100m, 50g). MC – 0005 Black Heather Contrast colours shown in Einrúm L+2 (92% Icelandic Wool, 8% Thai Silk, 102yds / 93m, 50g). CC1 – 2005, CC2 – 2001, CC3 – 2008

US 9 / 5.5mm 24” / 60cm or longer circular needle.

Gauge

16 sts and 21 rnds = 4˝ in st st in the rnd.

Skills for knitting this project

knitting, purling
casting on, binding off
working in the round
working small circumferences in the round
colourwork (using a chart)
make one increases
k2tog decreases
short rows

Optional Techniques

Helpful tutorials

A black woman wearing pink lipstick and a blue beanie stands in front of a window. She's wearing a black wool jumper with an eye catching white, silver, and grey colourwork yoke.

Cropped image of the back yoke of the Bleideag pattern, black sweater with a grey, silver, and white colourwork yoke. The person wearing the sweater has curly shoulder length blond hair.

Close up image of white hands with fingers curled in toward the palms, showing off the white colour work detail at the cuffs of black sleeves one a knit sweater.

Supplies

Yarn

MC: 680[700, 750, 800, 835, 875] (940, 985, 1030, 1055, 1125) [1175, 1210, 1265, 1325]yds / 625[645, 690, 735, 765, 800] (860, 905, 945, 965, 1030) [1080, 1110, 1160, 1215]m.

CC1: 55[55, 60, 65, 70, 70] (75, 80, 85, 85, 90) [95, 100, 105, 110] yds / 50[50, 55, 60, 60, 65] (70, 75, 75, 80, 85) [85, 90, 95, 100]m.

CC2: 45[45, 50, 55, 55, 60] (65, 65, 70, 70, 75) [80, 80, 85, 90] yds / 40[45, 45, 50, 50, 55] (55, 60, 65, 65, 70) [70, 75, 75, 80]m.

CC3: 45[45, 50, 55, 55, 60] (65, 65, 70, 70, 75) [80, 80, 85, 90] yds / 40[45, 45, 50, 50, 55] (55, 60, 65, 65, 70) [70, 75, 75, 80]m.

Balls of Létt Lopi or Einrúm L+2

MC: 7[7, 7, 8, 8, 9] (9, 10, 10, 10, 11) [11, 12, 12, 13]

CC1: 1[1, 1, 1, 1, 1] (1, 1, 1, 1, 1) [1, 1, 2, 2].

CC2 & CC3: 1

Make casting on simple with a kit.

Needles and notions

US 9 / 5.5mm 24” / 60cm or longer circular needle.

Additionally, for sizes 3–15 a 32"/ 80cm, and for sizes 8–15 also a 40"/100cm circular in the same size.

For these sizes, begin with the longest needle and switch to a shorter needle as necessary while working the yoke.

US 9 / 5.5mm dpns or circular(s) for your preferred method of knitting small circumferences in the rnd.

Stranded colourwork gauge is highly personal. You may need to use a smaller or larger needle for the colourwork.

Yarn quantities

For your selected size you will receive the number of balls of MC Ístex Létt Lopi and CC Einrúm L+2 in each colour as shown in the table below.

Size	1–3	4–5	6–7	8–10	11–12	13	14	15
MC	7	8	9	10	11	12	12	13
CC1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2
CC2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
CC3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Sizing

The Bleideag pattern includes 15 sizes, with a finished chest circumference of 38" to 66", roughly equivalent to ready to wear sizes XS-5XL.

1[2, 3, 4, 5, 6] (7, 8, 9, 10, 11) [12, 13, 14, 15]
38[40, 42, 44, 46, 48] (50, 52, 54, 56, 58) [60, 62, 64, 66]" / 95[100, 105, 110, 115, 120] (125, 130, 135, 140, 145) [150, 155, 160, 165]cm finished chest circumference)

Our models are wearing the size 7 with C/D bust darts with between 4 and 9" of positive ease.

Finished Garment Measurements

Size	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Inches
chest	38	40	42	44	46	48	50	52	54	56	58	60	62	64	66
body length	12 1/2	12 3/4	13	13 1/4	13 1/2	13 3/4	14	14 1/4	14 1/2	14 3/4	15	15 1/4	15 1/2	15 3/4	16
upper arm	12	12 1/2	13 1/2	14	14 1/2	15	16	16 1/2	17	17 1/2	18 1/2	19	19 1/2	20	21
cuff	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	12
sleeve length	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2	18 1/2
back yoke depth	8 1/2	8 1/2	8 1/2	8 3/4	8 3/4	9 1/4	9 1/2	10	10	10	10 1/4	10 3/4	10 3/4	11	11
CM
chest	95	100	105	110	115	120	125	130	135	140	145	150	155	160	165
body length	31.5	32	32.5	33	34	34.5	35	35.5	36.5	37	37.5	38	39	39.5	40
upper arm	30	31.5	34	35	36.5	37.5	40	41.5	42.5	44	46.5	47.5	49	50	52.5
cuff	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	30	30	30	30
sleeve length	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5	46.5
back yoke depth	21	21	21	22	22	23	24	25	25	25	25.5	26.5	26.5	27.5	27.5