A big fan of Dickens, Jane Austen and all-things-Victorian, I immersed myself in Lark Rise to Candleford on Youtube this Summer to brush up on my history.

(Alright. Okay. Can you say Brendan Coyle? Oliver Jackson-Cohen? Ben Aldridge? I’m a grandma and a knitter, but I’m not dead yet.)

I watched back to back episodes of this golden series for two solid weeks. This sweater is as close as I’ll ever come to that magical bucolic era.

I’m a Continental knitter and prefer “one piece” seamless sweaters to speed things up even more. (Setting in the sleeve is enough sewing for me.) Though it was knit on a wing and a prayer, without a pattern, I did refer to my Vogue Knitting Bible which is absolutely invaluable when designing your own garments.

Jennifer Dickinson summed it up perfectly in her review in Amazon, “One of the best features of this book is the design workshop at the back. Nowhere have I seen a simpler, more straightforward “how-to” for design. I never imagined designing until I saw their simple chart, diagrams, calculations, and advice on the subject.“ It didn’t get 122 5-star reviews for nothing!

The mutton sleeves are kept poofy at the shoulder by a little bean shaped shoulder pad I knit, stuffed and stitched inside the gathered sleeve cap. (A trick I learned in a costume department years and years ago.)

Another sleeve tip: make the sleeves flare a tad at the cuff and a bit longer than most patterns indicate to cover right to your ring. Your hands will look smaller and more delicate when it’s just your fingertips peeking out from your cuffs. Very flattering, and this draws the eye to your jewelry and your pretty nails ;o)

Speaking of rings, I put a diamond of ribbing right at the center back just below the neckline to draw that area together without puckering while still providing give and ease of motion. That way the sweater hugs my back and doesn’t hang out in an unsightly gap between my shoulder blades.

Finally, I knit my first-ever lace trim and it turned out so absolutely perfect that I didn’t mind hand stitching it on. I stitched it around the neckline, down the fronts and on the cuffs. It still look unfinished, I suspect because I couldn’t find any just-perfect-petite-oyster-shell buttons in lilac and so refused to put anything else on. I-cord was the solution and once I laced it through the trim, the sweater looked finished and thoroughly feminine.

Not sure it’s fancy enough for Ruby and Pearl, but I think Dorcas would approve!