A new year, and a gorgeous new Brooklyn Tweed Collection! Brooklyn Tweed just launched their Winter 2018 collection, full of fascinating new textures and designs – 5 pullovers, two cardigans, one jacket, one hat, one scarf, one wrap, and one cowl. There is a lot of diversity in the collection, not just in the items, but in the techniques and textures offered. The photography is dark and moody, which is amazing, but we knitters do love some good detail shots – it’s worth checking out the patterns beyond the look book. The individual pattern pages have a lot more photos, and often show them in different colours, which helps give a better perspective on some of the darker knits.
Out of the 12 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 offer as much info as you’d like! And if you’d like to look at the patterns on Ravelry (I always do, so much easier to add to my queue), the link is here. My top 5 picks:
Bevel is a squishy, garter-filled scarf with all sorts of fun color combination possibilities. It is knit in a modular style, meaning that the chevrons are worked first, then the outer borders are picked up around the edges. The pattern comes in both a DK and fingering weight version, and there are even kits available for the fingering weight version with 6 different colour combinations- I can’t wait to see knitted up versions of the Toboggan combination, and Snowfall. Check out the kits here, and the colour combos are all the way down in the 7th photo.
You Should Totally Knit This If: You love garter stitch, knits that are more than one colour, and want to try modular knitting without it being a gigantic log cabin blanket.
You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: You are not into garter stitch as a fabric, and the very idea of picking up all those outer border edges makes you cringe.
A beautiful cabled button up cardigan in a classic shape, full of tailored details and set in sleeves. This DK weight pattern is knit in pieces from the bottom up and seamed together, with thick cables accenting details on the back fronts, and sleeves. The cables are not for the cabling novice: 8 different charts and 20 – yes, TWENTY – different types of cable crosses in the legend. Chart reading skills and total sobriety are a must – if you want to have a glass of wine and put on Netflix then you are living dangerously, my friend.
You Should Totally Knit This If: You read the above and thought – ‘Challenge accepted!’ because CABLES ARE LIFE, Y’ALL.
You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: You half choked on your tea or coffee when I told you there were 20 different cable crosses and haven’t even finished reading this sentence, because you’ve already scrolled down to the next.
A laceweight dolman pullover knit flat from the bottom up and seams. The second I saw the drapey cowl neck, I loved it. Looks so pretty, and if you are a slow knitter, start now and you will have the perfect spring pullover just when you need it. Lace is charted, but the charts are fairly simple and repetitive, and the most complicated stitch would be sometimes knitting or purling into the front and back of a stitch. Also, no short rows.
You Should Totally Knit This If: You love knitting lace and mesh, love a good drapey neckline, and got a little happy when I mentioned there were no short rows.
You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: You winced a bit seeing that it is laceweight, and dolman sleeves make you feels a little weird (no, you don’t look like a fruit bat).
This bulky knit cardigan is one of the easiest and likely fastest of the garments to knit from the collection. Knit from the bottom up and seamed, there are no charts and all simple, straightforward stitches. The sleeve length could easily be adjusted, but i like the elbow length- it is a chic contrast to the open shape of the body of the cardigan.
You Should Totally Knit This If: You love wearing open front cardigans, haven’t tried a Brooklyn Tweed pattern before, and want something that you can enjoy knitting while you watch some TV, and maybe have a glass of wine.
You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: You don’t love easy-to-wear cardigans, stockinette, or are not sure about a more voluminous cardigan.
A DK weight pullover knit in the round from the bottom up, Kirigami is a straightforward knit. The yoke is fully charted, and the body has some waist shaping and some short rows at the bust.
You Should Totally Knit This If: You adore round yokes, knitting in the round, and the texture intrigues you.
You Should Definitely Not Knit This If: You are not into round yokes at all. Hey, they aren’t for everyone, no judgement.
And those are my top picks in my Brooklyn Tweed Winter 2018 Review! What are your favourites from the new collection? Let me know!
