Often my inspiration for designs comes from external sources, such as music, art and the natural world. In this instance, however, the inspiration for Baroque Nouveau came directly from the yarn. I saw these two colours by Beehive Yarns at Yorkshire Yarn Fest and immediately felt that they belonged together. I wanted to create a colourwork sweater with a sense of opulence, decadence and a little bit of drama. With this in mind, I drew on two design eras: Baroque and Art Nouveau. I used design ideas from both of these eras to create the final colourwork design - and this mash-up of design eras also inspired the sweater’s name.

SAMPLE
The wearer is 5’10” with a 37” chest circumference. The sample has been worked in size L, giving the wearer 7.5” / 19cm of positive ease at the chest. The sample has been modified to allow for the wearer’s height; the yoke was separated into body and sleeves as for sizes 2XL-5XL and an extra 1” / 2.5cm of length was added to the body and sleeves after the colourwork was completed.

SIZING GUIDE
This garment is graded into sizes XS (S, M, L, XL) (2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL). Recommended positive ease is 3-8” / 7.5-20cm at the chest circumference.
Chest Circumference: 33.5 (37.25, 40.75, 44.5, 48.25) (52, 59.5, 63.25, 66.75)“ / 83.5 (93, 102, 111.5, 120.5) (130, 148.5, 158, 167)cm.

GAUGE
Using 3.25mm / US size 3 needles, or needle size required to meet gauge, 28 stitches over 34 rounds in stockinette stitch, blocked, creates a 4x4”/10x10cm square.

YARN
The sample has been worked in Beehive Yarn’s Audrey fingering-weight base (75% Superwash Merino / 25% Nylon; 425m / 465yds per 100g) using colourway Cemetery Gates as the main colour and Golden Olive as the contrast colour.

YARDAGE (includes ~10% excess)
MC: 833 (900, 959, 1064, 1145) (1226, 1379 ,1443, 1504) metres / 911 (984, 1050, 1163, 1253) (1341, 1509, 1578, 1645) yards / 196 (212, 226, 250, 270) (288, 324, 339, 354) grams.
CC: 157 (173, 186, 217, 223) (249, 293, 308, 322) metres / 171 (189, 204, 237, 254) (272, 320, 337, 353) yards / 37 (41, 44, 51, 55) (59, 69, 73, 76) grams.

TOOLS & NOTIONS
2.75mm / US size 2 circular needles (to work neckband, cuffs and waistband; varying cable lengths would be helpful)
3.25mm / US size 3 circular needles (to work yoke, body and sleeves; varying cable lengths would be helpful)
1 marker
scrap yarn
tapestry needle to weave in ends

SKILLS REQUIRED
-long tail cast on
-joining and working in the round
-German short row shaping
-reading colourwork charts
-working stranded colourwork with two colours
-catching floats of unused yarn on wrong side
-separating yoke into body and sleeves
-working a repeated pattern of decreases
-working K2tog and SSK decreases
-standard bind off