Tillie was the name of one of my favorite Great Great Aunts. Born in 1903, she was the youngest of four Aunts living together in a 1920s mansion (or so it seemed) in the Fairhaven district of Bellingham, Wa.

My Aunts were the Golden Girls before the Golden Girls. When I went to their house they would feed me Pepperrmint Schnapps over vanilla ice cream, let me help with their crossword puzzles, regale me with stories of overseas travel during the Roaring Twenties, and Aunt Tillie and I would always walk to the corner store for Neopolitan ice cream.

This is the first in a series that honors these wonderful free spirited women who remain my idols to this day.

Tillie, like all my patterns, is sized using actual dimensions. Only you know what kind of fit you want! There are eight sizes for this sweater ranging from 32 inches to 62 inches.

Construction: The body is knit in the round from the bottom up, then the front and back are knit separately. Sleeves are knit flat and then sewn in. The hood is picked up and knit at the end.

Difficulty: Although this looks involved each step is is relatively simple, including the lace border and sweatshirt pocket, making this suitable for someone who has already knit a sweater or two.

Skills needed: Knitting in the round, flat knitting, simple lace stitches, increasing, decreasing, picking up stitches, binding off in the middle of a garment, and seaming.

Needles: Circular size 9 (5.5mm) or size that knits to gauge of 5 stitches per inch, 32” or 40” for the body. Circular size 9 (5.5mm) 16” or straight needes for sleeves. You will also need one more longish set of size 9 (5.5mm) circular or straights for knitting the pocket, as your main set will be holding the body stitches.

Notions: Yarn needle, markers, scrap yarn or additional circulars for holding stitches. Stitch counter or paper and pencil for keeping track of increases and decreases, or materials for your preferred method.

Yarn: Wildwood Yarns Tonal Worsted (50% Baby Alpaca, 50% Merino Wool), 218 yds per 100 gram skein. This sweater uses color TW538. 7 (8,9,9,10,10,11,12) skeins.

Substitutions: Any worsted that can be knitted at 5st per inch. You are looking for a drapey fabric for this sweater.