The Brooklyn Tweed Winter 2016 Collection just launched 16 wonderful new patterns, and in January they feel much needed. This is a pullover-heavy collection with seven pullovers, three cardigans, three shawls/scarves, one hat and one dress. There is a lot more stockinette in these knits than usual, but each one balanced with classic Brooklyn Tweed details and cool little tricks that make their knits unlike any others.  If you haven’t knit a BT pattern yet, maybe this is the collection that convinces you to take the plunge!

Out of the 16 patterns, this pattern review will focus on my favourite five. If there is a different one you’d like more info on, let me know in the comments and I can respond to your questions there. And if you’d like to look at the patterns on Ravelry, the link is here.

Halus, by Jared Flood

I don’t often think of BT Patterns as being a quick knit, but this chunky-weight hat would be perfect. Using a single skein of Quarry, this great hat has you dropping stitches and then using a crochet hook to chain up the dramatic ribs of texture.

You Should Totally Knit This If:  You love close-fitting hats, lace that doesn’t look like lace, and super fast one-skein projects.

You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: The hat style doesn’t suit you (or anyone you know), and if the idea of dropping stitches and then laddering them back up with a crochet hook doesn’t appeal.

Riptide, by Norah Gaughan

This is the weekend sweater that you will want to wear all the time. Knit in chunky weight, this positive-ease sweater is knit from the bottom up in the round, with hints of cable and a brioche rib on the round yoke and funnel neck.

You Should Totally Knit This If:  You love cozy, chunky sweaters and can already picture going for brunch and hanging out in this knit.

You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: Brioche and funnel necks aren’t for you- although I bet this would look great with the funnel neck left off, too.

Snowqualmie, by Michele Wang

Shawl collar. Cables for days. This chunky-weight unisex cardigan is so good looking, you shouldn’t trust it unattended around friends, male or female.  The pattern has fully charted cables, and the chart is way simpler than the finished sweater would have you believe. If you want to knit a cardigan that you will be wearing forever, this is it.

You Should Totally Knit This If:  Whether wearing them or knitting them, you secretly think cabled sweaters are your one true love. And you understand that a sweater like this needs seams for structure and stability (it’s knitted flat and seamed).

You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: You have a wandering eye when it comes to project monogamy- this is a big project and a yarn eater, you need commitment to pull this off.

Intersect, by Norah Gaughan

This sweater is so interestingly constructed, it has 3 pages of schematic details that include some colour so that you know which bits get seamed to which. I don’t say that to scare you off, because I’m actually very impressed that the schematic is so easy to understand, given the creative and unusual construction. The sweater is fingering weight, and the cabled sections are fully charted.

You Should Totally Knit This If:  You love sweaters that can be dressy or casual, and interesting shapes when it comes to cardigans.

You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: A fingering weight sweater of this size makes you cringe, or if you hate picking up stitches along edges- there’s a lot of that.

Lucca, by Jared Flood

A BT collection has to have a stunning circular shawl by Jared Flood, am I right? This is an utterly beautiful, angelic looking laceweight shawl with a Pi construction, and if you have knit lace before, then you will be familiar with all the stitches used in the charts.  My only complaint is that it’s hard to see how beautiful it is in the photos, considering the model is wearing a white top.

You Should Totally Knit This If:  You secretly have a shrine to Elizabeth Zimmermann, and were sold at the words ‘lace’ and ‘pi shawl’.

You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: Lace is not your thing. And if if you think lace is not your thing because you are thinking of this only as a shawl, consider what an awesome throw this would be in a heavier weight yarn.

Those are my top picks! Do you have a favourite? I’m still trying to avoid casting on for Halus this very second….