Fun
Coming Soon: Bang Out a Carbeth!
We interrupt this knitalong (the Fringe and Friends Log Cabin Knitalong, full of love and going strong) to bring you . . . another knitalong.
Friends, February is nearly upon us. And for the third year running, the arrival of the last full month of winter in the Northern Hemisphere makes us long to bang out a sweater.
Yes, we already own some sweaters. Which we’ve been wearing every day, all day, for the last month and a half or more.
We want a new sweater, and we want it now!
But what sweater will it be? We remember how Mary Jane Mucklestone’s Stopover sweater, with its promise of spontaneous sweater combustion, captured our imagination in February 2016, and how Véronik Avery’s Hadley, with its graphic patterning, grabbed us by the yoke in February 2017.
Some sweater patterns appear, and they just insist that we make them.
That’s what happened at the end of 2017, when stunning photos of Kate Davies in her brand-new Carbeth pullover were the shots seen round the world. (There was a loch! She wore a full, kilted tartan skirt! In the snow! With a swan!)
Before Carbeth, if you had asked me, “Kay, how about a large-gauge, cropped pullover with distinctive raglan shaping reminiscent of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Hurry-Up Last-Minute Sweater?”— I’m pretty sure I would have demurred.
But the pictures!
I love the details of Carbeth: the wide, deep rolled collar that I always find so flattering and ’60s chic; the graceful lowering and flattening of the raglan “seam” lines; the long ribbed cuffs and simple ribbed hem; the gentle belling at the back.
They add up to a sweater that I (and at least 249 other people, apparently) wanted to cast on NOW.
(You know what this picture needs?)
(It needs a swan, that’s what it needs.)
Knitting Carbeth will just take a minute, right? I’ll hardly have to disturb the queue, or my log cabin pullover-in-progress, to bang out a Carbeth. At a gauge of 14 stitches over 4 inches, it barely has as many stitches as a hat, right?
Bang out a Carbeth Knitalong: The Details
The official needles-up date will be next Monday, February 5.
We will attempt, with all our might, to bind off the last stitches of our wide roll necks by Wednesday, February 28. (But as we know, a good knitalong is evergreen; it cannot be held to arbitrary deadlines. As proof of this cheerful thought, we like to check the #bangoutasweater and #bangoutaHadley hashtags on Instagram, which continue to get updated with new FOs, long after their original Februarys.)
Between now and then, we suggest that everyone:
Check out the gallery of 249 Carbeth projects (many of them finished as quickly as Kate’s) on Ravelry. With this many projects to look at, you’ll get a sense how Carbeth fits on different bodies and with different mods. Thank you, early adopters of Carbeth!
Choose your yarn. Carbeth is knit to a gauge of 14 stitches = 4 inches/10cm, and calls for 515-860 yards of bulky-weight yarn. Give the stash a good shake, and keep an open mind. Kate’s original Carbeth was knit with a double strand of Buachaille, a sport weight yarn. Double-stranding gives rise to opportunities for marling. We’ve got a few choice candidates for either single- or double-stranding in the Shop. (Note: if Jill Draper’s magnificent Brunswick is calling to you, act quickly. Only a few sweater quantities remain, and when it’s gone, it’s gone.)
Think about modifications, but don’t be too quick to decide that your Carbeth needs to be longer. With all the layers I wear this time of year, I am taken with the idea of a short topper to keep my arms and neck warm without padding the lower middle zone. One knitter’s abbreviated sweater is another knitter’s extended shrug. If you are adding to your Carbeth, see Kate’s helpful post about estimating how much more yarn you’ll need.
The Lounge topic: Bang Out a Carbeth.
The Instagram hashtag: #bangoutacarbeth.
All set? C’mon! It’ll be fun!
You all are going to ❤️️Carbeth! I just finished one and may just have to do another, with the KAL. Mine is still drying……it is thick and I am getting very impatient to wear it. Maybe today! My Carbeth is knit in Buachaille from a Miss Rachel’s Yoke kit that I purchased a couple of years ago. Stash yarn! Haar was used throughout with various other colors. While knitting, thoughts of itmay look clownish or epic, raced through my mind. I personally love it!
I love the design and the photos but it’s knitted in the round and that’s not my thing unfortunately. Perhaps the next one.
You tempt me with this knit along! But with three sweaters currently on the needles, I must pass. Although my mind is currently rolodexing through my stash right now thinking if I have appropriate yarn…
I do love how we can now follow hashtags on Instagram so I’m going to add this hashtag right now. It will be my second favorite after #knitterstotedailycarry
#knitterstotedailycarry doesn’t update very often but when it does, it’s so extra!
Hmm, how many strands of fingering weight = bulky? I could marl myself crazy with this one. What a gorgeous pattern, and my sweater confidence is growing row by row.
Bonne Marie Burns of ChicKnits recently posted a great spreadsheet and description of combining various weight yarns to get other weights. Super useful:
https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/chic-knits/3715665/1-25
You have to do it! Now I’m thinking about a four-strand fingering marlfest. It would be like inventing a new yarn. Madness!
(emerges blinking from stash holding yarn aloft triumphantly)
What a cool idea! I think that 4 strands of fingering would work.
I have been planning to bang out a Carbeth! Now I can do it with company. I’d have started already but, after swatching (gasp!) I realized the yarn I had chosen was not going to work at the pattern gauge. So then I decided to bang out a Walking on the Moon. Incentive to get this one off the needles before February 5!
Had to go see Walking on the Moon. Here ’tis: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/walking-on-the-moon
Sure, sure….lead me astray. The colorblock version is a beauty, although I’d use a different combo, maybe black, cream and greys.
I’m so in! Was interested to see how this one looks on different body types. Conclusion: pretty awesome! I love how you can fancy it up with a skirt or dress or go casual with jeans. For a cropped sweater, it is surprisingly versatile. Plus those photos of Kate are so very inspiring.
WHAT FUN. I’ve got some Fonty Pole burning a hole in my stash and just finished a Sweater of Obligation, so I am unapologetically in!
I banged out a Stopover but passed on the Hadley. Carbeth suits my stash and my clime. I’m a multiproject knitter, and I currently only have the logalong blanket on my needles. Will dig out the bulky pink yarn from deep stash tonight!
It suits your wardrobe, too! Looks great with a skirt.
too late! I;m already banging out a Carbeth in wool, and have plans for a silk blend one, but won’t have the yarn until April. Bad timing on my part!
You need a Transitional Carbeth, perhaps?
Hooray! I was immediately tempted by Kate’s new design, and am so ready for a quicky – I’m a very easy in. I wear both of the previous #BangOut sweaters and will be delighted to have a very new silhouette to add to the rotation!
oooo I think I have yarn in my stash that would work for this one.
GROAN…..You guys!!! I’ve been on the fence about Carbeth (length/lack thereof does not mix well with my width (or excess thereof), but you’ve pushed me over to the other side. All I need to do is find the needles and I will be ready for 2/5/18 (as far as knitting goes, anyway…). And yes, I will be adding those 40 or so extra rounds…. It is a cute pattern.
OK, let’s cut to the chase…has anyone with a large bust line made this?
Does it look as nice on you as it does on the model?
Small chest envy going on here!
I had the same thought! It’s gorgeous on the model, but no way would those lovely dropped raglan lines look good against my pair of DDs.
I’ve just finished my Carbeth and I’ll be honest – I’m glad I didn’t lengthen it as to me that is what this sweater is all about. I’m by no means slim but not busty either, only a 34C, but I don’t like how big this sweater makes me look over the chest area. I love those low raglan lines but I’d love them more if I were an ‘A’ cup!
Fantastic! I started swatching for this just last night! Yay!!
Love this sweater. I bought the pattern the day it went on sale. If I finish my comfort fade cardi in time I’ll bang it out with you. So glad you chose it!
I think this is going to be my Olympics knitting project, too!!! AND I think I have enough yarn in my stash for this! WIN WIN.
You’re killing me! I’m just now finishing Stopover!
I made one using ecru Cascade Ecological wool using less than 2 big skeins. I ended up dying it terracotta. It dyes super well.
I want to do a second but I was a bit surprised that a crop is REALLY a crop so unless you wear something under it perhaps plan to add on a few extra inches.
Hard pass for me! That sweater does not mix well with my shape.
DAMMIT I JUST TRIPPED AND FELL AND BOUGHT CHUNKY YARN FOR THIS
I read on Kate’s blog she was working on a cardigan version of the Carbeth! Fingers crossed that she posts about it before the 5th, because I would love to do this version but I don’t think I could figure out this mod on my own.
I love this version https://www.ravelry.com/projects/netteke/carbeth but I am quite sure I will still be logalonging when you begin and end this project.
I am in! I have been avoiding KALs, but when you first mentioned Carbeth (last week?), I immediately put it in my queue. My son’s Knitter Dude and the revision to my Granito will just have to wait. I’m all over this. Now trying to decide which stash yarn I’ll use – a bulky natural, or doubling a sport weight in a luscious red. Worried I don’t have enough of the red to do this right. See you in the Lounge!
Oh, I really was going to just stick to projects and yarn that I already have, but I loved Bang out a Stopover and Carbeth looks so fun to knit! I’m hoping I can find something on sale at my LYS. 🙂
Can hardly wait! I just bought this pattern, and am picking out my yarn!!! Love this sweater!
Damn you! I am moving tomorrow, have tons to do, but suddenly find myself assessing how much Lopi I have on hand..
OMG! I swore to finish up all these dang baby clothes first, but after doing the first two #bangout sweaters, you know I have to do this one. AND I actually bought the pattern a while back, and I have some gorgeous raspberry Eco+ in the stash…. My great-niece is adorable, but she can wait for her next sweater!
The Triple Bangers need their own space in the Lounge! The few, the proud!
And those photos make it even more irresistible. Someone needs to burst into a chorus of The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Knitting
ohmygosh, there is a four color colorblock carbeth over on ravelry and I want one now.
thank goodness for good neighbors and that everyone is ok. very sorry about the smoke smell, it is daunting to live with that.
I’m on the side of wondering what good a cropped sweater like that would do? If I need warm neck or shoulders, a cowl or shawl would do. I can’t imagine layering a bulky sweater over other sweaters. Wearing this alone would leave the kidneys open to the elements and the belling at the back lays out a welcome mat to every passing frigid blast, I do see how attractive it looks on the model, but just doesn’t seen very useful to me.
I’m with you…I’m not Scottish, don’t own a kilt, and there are no lochs to be found here. I once read a wise knitter who said…”never knit the lifestyle.” Not to discourage anyone else, but this one is not for me.
What I love about knitters is that they generally can both enjoy great photo styling for the fun that it brings, and also evaluate a sweater on its own merits according to their own taste and experience.
Case in point: I’m 59 with a magnificent muffin top (not bragging but it’s true) and I live in a place with cold winters and I own several wide cropped sweaters (handknits and storeboughts). There is a sweater out there for everybody, thank goodness.
Ok you’ve sold me on banging out a sweater. Carbeth is just too warm for my part of the country. Any warm climate suggestions for the Bang-along?
Omg you guys get me Every Time. I finished my logalong and I’m only in one other KAL so OF COURSE I will bang out a Carbeth.
I have to commit to this one! It starts on my birthday! I have a sizeable stash of various yarns so I will be double stranding Kidsilk Haze and Felted tweed in shades of green…..now all I have to do is find the yarn…..I may be some time but will start when resources are gathered…. Go Carbeth
I’ve already started so I will be cheering on from the sidelines. I have loved this since Kate started posting pictures of it. I have a “slightly” different shape but plan on layering it over longer tunics.
And I seem to have an abundance of Briar Rose Abundance in stash that didn’t know what it wanted to be. It does now – also gave me a really good excuse to order some for the shop:)
This is perfect timing. I already have the pattern and yarn! It’s all waiting until I finish my son’s jumper (3 inches to go on the last sleeve-YAY) so yes, I will be thrilled to join and bang out the Carbeth. The best part is that I will be walking the West Highland Way this summer and am making this Carbeth to take along for wooly warmth.
I’m in! Because…the swan. And yarn in stash. (And a swatch already done, that ended up negating Plan A and Plan B for the yarn.) But mostly because I checked out the project gallery on Rav and it looks good on EVERYBODY.
I skipped the previous knitalongs, but this pattern appeals to me, and I already have a bulky yarn that works for it. Question: may I cheat and start on Sunday night during the Super Bowl?
Ok! Ready to go! Love this sweater, love the way Kate looks in it! A bit worried about
my larger bustline……..but, going to give it a go, a little longer perhaps.
Now to search the stash! No time to buy wool.
Hi,
I love that Carbeth sweater, and would like to join the Knitalong. But I don’t see how or where to sign on. Could you helpme, please?
GreteJ
Welcome, Grete! There’s no signup required. We are all just knitting it at the same time and talking about it in The Lounge. (The button to access the Lounge is up at the top of the screen on the left.) We are also posting pictures of our progress to Instagram under the hashtag #bangoutacarbeth. Instagram makes it easy to see lots of pictures on the same theme in this way. We’ll be posting regularly about it on the blog this month and if you have questions or want to join in the chat, it’s in the Lounge.
Welp, I’d already decided to bang out Modern Icelandic, but I’ll at least be sweatering along in spirit with the rest of you! https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/07-modern-icelandic
That is a gorgeous Lars Rains sweater. Glad you’re knitting along with us.
Lars–heckuva designer, helluva nice guy.
Got my yarn & swatching has begun!
Have my swatch done. Too bad that I can’t seem to purchase the pattern. I am hoping that the site is fixed soon.
Looking to stash bust….how many yards, approx, for a Carbeth.. Still need to buy the pattern….
I have the Carbeth PDF and the Cascade Eco yarn is on it’s way. I will be banging out that Carbeth at a slightly delayed date. :):)