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New jumper knit-a-long!

Lauren Aston
29 January 2020

Hello M’darlin’s!

I can’t tell you how excited I’ve been to talk about this new jumper and what we have planned for it! You may have already seen it since subtlety isn’t my strong suit – I shared a few sneak peeks on Instagram before I basically just gave up and posted 3594 pictures of it all over my IG and asked for help naming it (you guys are THE BEST at names!). We’ve finally named it and the printing is on it’s way to us so I can introduce you to *fanfare please!*….

The ‘Drop It From The Top (Down) Jumper’

Our latest LAD knit is a comfortable, cosy and colourful jumper, knit from the top down (meaning you don’t need to do any sewing up!) It’s available as a knit kit or downloadable pattern that includes instructions for four sizes (covering UK 6-28.) It’s a brilliant pattern for confident beginners as it includes a few new techniques that are easy to grasp and useful to know but nothing too strenuous.

The pattern talks you through using circular knitting needles (which, if you’ve never used them before – are a dream…prepare to never use straight needles again) and there are of course videos on the Knitting Knowledge Page and you can knit it in one colour or two and to whatever length you fancy!

It has a gentle round neck, slightly cinched in waist and a bit of a balloon sleeve, whilst still being very wearable (I’m not good with MASSIVE balloon sleeves).

Is it difficult?

With regards to the difficultly level, we’ve categorised it as ‘Confident beginner’ because of the ‘new’ techniques but we can promise that none are too difficult, if you’ve knit any clothing before then you’ll be fine with this.

It’s a great step if you’ve made one of our cardigans or jumpers because it uses loads of the same techniques but on circular needles. I’ve tried to explain everything really clearly in the pattern itself and I’ve created some videos to support it all but most excitingly we’re going to have a Knit-a-long! 🎉

What the heck is a knit-a-long?

Yes indeed, it’s time for a knit-a-long! Late last year I asked on IG what our audience would like from us in 2020 and soooo many people suggested a knit-a-long! I thought this new jumper with a few different techniques would be a great start so we decided to kick off in February!

So what’s this Knit-a-long all about? Well, essentially it means we can knit the jumper together and that you’ll have some guidance and/or company – we’ll be a team knitting all at once so can help each other out and give encouragement (MAGIC ✨) I’ll do weekly videos for 3 weeks to talk through the pattern and techniques, I’ll suggest where we should get to for the following week and then we can ‘meet back’ a week later to carry on the pattern.

This means we can all achieve it together. Hopefully it’ll help spur us all on (and of course if you can’t wait for the next week you’re welcome to carry on!) but it also means that if you have any questions about the pattern I can answer them as we go and we’ll all be ‘in it together’ 💖

The Knit-a-long will take place in our Facebook Group - ‘Lauren Aston Designs Knitting Club’ - which you can join if you’ve purchased a LAD knit kit or pattern.

The first video will launch on Feb 18th then the following videos will be published Feb 25th & March 3rd. (You don’t need to be there at the time as they will stay available in the group.) The only technical requirement for the knit along is that you can cast on, do knit stitch and cast off as I shan’t be going into detail on these… the rest we can work on together.

And although the knit-a-long will be held in the group, I shan’t be breaking the pattern down row by row so if you want to take part you’ll need to purchase either the knit kit or pattern to follow along 😊

So, the knit-a-long will last 3 weeks and I’ll post a video every Tuesday evening. I’m going to prerecord the videos (for a few boring editing reasons plus doing it live scares the living daylights out of me) but I’ll ensure I’m around for minimum an hour once each video is posted.

I can then answer any questions immediately or if I need to demonstrate I can include it in the following vid. This also means that the knit-a-long can stay up for ever so if now isn’t the time for you to knit another jumper but you fancy it in a few months, everything will still be there to follow along with.

I’ll be sure to put Knit-a-long updates in the Facebook Group so if you want to join in please apply for the facebook group as soon as you’re eligible (once you’ve made a LAD kit or pattern purchase)

Side Note: We are thinking about starting a Patreon account so this is a bit of a test to see if people enjoy it so any constructive feedback will be welcome.

Choose your colours

So if you’ve decided you need the Drop It From The Top (down) Jumper in your life then it’s time to get involved. I know lots of you have a wonderful Yarn Stash to use up from our Subscription Box colours but for those planning on ordering a kit I thought I’d throw some dreamy colour combos your way (basically all the combos I want to make it in – let me live vicariously through you!!) Some of these include a few of our new colours which I’m going to properly introduce you to next week…

Talk about #couplesgoals

  • Emerald & Lilac: My current favourite combo. I think I’d opt for Lilac on the top and the main jumper in Emerald.
  • Navy & Bubble: New kid on the block; Bubble, looks Ah-mazing with other shades of blue like Navy.
  • Mustard & Mid Grey: Classic combo, these two have a history of looking BLOODY BEAUTIFUL together, not too subtle but not too much either.
  • Bright Pink & Candyfloss: Pink power, this combo will forever make me swoon, I think I’d put the candyfloss at the top…but maybe not.
  • Mink Blush & Mulberry: Another newbie, this is like a subtle version of our Pink Power combo above! Dreamy and calm, perfect if you don’t do brights
  • Pewter & Duck Egg: Hello calming combo. This pair are so calm and soothing, they compliment each other so beautifully whichever way you pair them!

I’m off to NYC

I’m off on my holidays tomorrow so I’m trying desperately to get organised. I’m going to prep next weeks blog in advance to give you a peek at the new colours though so don’t panic (lol) I really really really hope you like the new jumper and hope some of you will join me on the knit-a-long in Feb. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts and see which colours you choose!

Take Care Team! L x

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