Bang Out a Sweater: Bolin Cardigan with Lorilee Beltman

Bang! Zoom! We’re hosting a multi-session workshop to guide knitters through making a sweater, start to finish. Whether it’s your first sweater or your fiftieth, having Lorilee Beltman leading the way will make for a rich learning experience—and an amazing new sweater.

This will be a virtual workshop series on Zoom. No kit is included, but we provide the pattern so you can get the yarns you’ll need to knit your Bolin Cardigan. Read on for all the details and to reserve your place.

SCHEDULE

Session 1: Friday, January 31, 2025—Starting Off Right

Time: Noon-2 p.m. Eastern time

Location: Zoom—this is a virtual event.

Your order confirmation email will include a link to a PDF with the Zoom meeting link for this session.  

Lesson:

1. Materials and gauge swatch checkup.
2. How to choose a size with 2-4 inches of ease, or your desired amount of ease.
3. Tips on holding 2 yarns together.
4. Alternating Rib Cast On.
5. Looking ahead to dividing for right front, left front, and back of the cardigan, with tips for holding stitches.

Lorilee will send us off with homework: how far to get and what to have ready for Session 2.

Session 2: Friday, February 14, 2025—Shoulders and Cables

Time: Noon-2:00 p.m. Eastern time

Location: Zoom—this is a virtual event.

Your order confirmation email will include a link to a PDF with the Zoom meeting link for this session.  

Lesson:

1. Check in and troubleshoot our work since Session 1.
2. Short rows, what they do for the fit at the shoulders, and how to work them with ease.
3. Join shoulders using a three-needle bindoff. (Plus: why we’re doing it that way).
4. Picking up stitches tidily for sleeve. (Key word: tidily. Lorilee shows the way!)
5. Mini seminar on cables, including: reading the chart easily; reading your knitting, working the cable, and knowing when it’s time to cable—how to keep track of where you are.

Session 3: Thursday, February 28, 2025—Bolin’s Beautiful Details

Time: Noon-2:00 p.m. Eastern time

Location: Zoom—this is a virtual event.

Your order confirmation email will include a link to a PDF with the Zoom meeting link for this session.  

Lesson:

1. Check in and troubleshoot our work since Session 2.
2. Invisible Rib bindoff.
3. Attached button band—how to do this elegant finish.
4. Buttonholes.
5. Buttons and optional backing buttons.
6. Time to ask Lorilee about any remaining issues that require help.
7. Joyful celebration: we’re there—or nearly there! Show and tell!

Our Workshop Leader

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After leading scores of knitters in last year’s Bang Out a Sweater sprint, legendary knitting teacher Lorilee Beltman returns to guide us through the clean lines and ingenious details of Norah Gaughan’s elegant Bolin Cardigan.

Lorilee sees no end to where knitting curiosity can take you, and she loves to help knitters make new discoveries. Patient with students, Lorilee packs her classes with content and extra tips you can really use. A born teacher, she has enjoyed teaching knitters at over a hundred national events, and she looks forward to meeting you.

We are proud as can be that this will be Lorilee’s third appearance as a virtual workshop teacher for MDK.

Praise for last year’s Bang Out a Sweater with Lorilee:

Lorilee’s articles and designs have been published in books, magazines, and online. She has been a yarn shop owner, a Knit Stars masterclass teacher, a techniques columnist at Knitty.com, and an online instructor at Interweave and at Craftsy, where her classes are bestsellers.

Lorilee grew up in Pittsburgh, spent thirty years in west Michigan, and now calls the Seattle area home. When not knitting or growing veggies, she can be found on the pickleball court playing for fun or teaching beginners as a certified pickleball coach.

Find out more about Lorilee at lorileebeltman.com.. External Link. Opens in new window.

What You’ll Need

. External Link. Opens in new window.Here is the sizing information and yarn requirements for the Bolin Cardigan as shown in MDK Field Guide No. 28.

Knitted Measurements

Bust: 34.25 (38.5, 42.25, 47.5, 50.25) (55.5, 58.25, 63.5, 66.25)” 87 (98, 107.5, 120.5, 127.5) (141, 148, 161.5, 168.5) cm, buttoned
Length: 18.5 (19, 19.25, 19.5, 19.75) (20, 20.5, 21, 21.5)” 47 (48.5, 49, 49.5, 50) (51, 52, 53.5, 54.5) cm

Sizes

To fit bust sizes 30-32 (34-36, 38-40, 42-44, 46-48) (50-52, 54-56, 58-60, 62-64)” 76-81.5 (86.5-91.5, 96.5-101.5, 106.5-112, 117-122) (127-132, 137-142, 147.5-152.5, 157.5-162.5) cm

Materials

— Felted Tweed by Rowan 50 g skeins, each approx 191 yds
(175 m), 50% wool/25% viscose/25% alpaca: 6 (6, 7, 7, 8)(8, 9, 9, 10) balls
— Kidsilk Haze by Rowan 25 g balls, each approx 229 yds (210 m), 70% mohair/30% silk: 5 (5, 5, 6, 6) (6, 7, 7, 8) balls
— Size US 8 (5 mm) circular needles, 16″ (40 cm) and 32″ (80 cm) long, and one pair double-pointed needles, or size needed to achieve gauge
— Size US 6 (4 mm) circular needles, 16″ (40 cm) and 32″ (80 cm) long, and one pair double-pointed needles
— Stitch markers
— Cable needle
— Stitch holder or waste yarn — Two 29 mm buttons

A Note on Color Combinations

There are infinite combinations of Felted Tweed and Kidsilk Haze. In the interest of saving you 4,000 swatches and a year of experiments, here are our favorite pairings. We’ve brought in bounteous quantities of these particular colorways, so we hope you’ll love these as much as we do. Find your quantities and sizes here. Kidsilk Haze here; Felted Tweed right here.

The sample was made in Stone (Felted Tweed) and Rose (Kidsilk Haze):

Kay made her Bolin Cardigan in Carbon (Felted Tweed) and Hurricane (Kidsilk Haze):

. External Link. Opens in new window.A Note on Yarn Substitution

For best results and greatest happiness with your finished cardigan, we strongly recommend making your Bolin Cardigan with the recommended yarns: Felted Tweed and Kidsilk Haze, both by Rowan. When held together, these two yarns knit up into a fabric that is incredibly light, strong, luxurious—and yet miraculously pill free.

Of course, you are welcome to use other yarns! If you do substitute, swatch carefully, both for gauge and to make sure you are pleased with the weight, texture, and drape of the knitted fabric.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Is Bang Out a Sweater suitable for beginning knitters? Yes—we sure wish Lorilee had been standing by when we knit our first sweaters! You will get the most out of the class if you are comfortable with basic knitting techniques, including: casting on, knitting, purling, picking up stitches, and knitting in the round (for the sleeves). A comfort level with simple cables is helpful, but not required—the cable on Bolin’s sleeve is a perfect first cable. Lorilee will have tips and guidance on everything you need to know.

How should I get ready for the workshop? Print out the Bolin Cardigan pattern from Field Guide No. 28 and gather your needles, yarn, and tools needed for the Bolin Cardigan. No need to wind yarn if you’re using Felted Tweed and Kidsilk Haze, which come pre-wound, but if you’re using another yarn, have enough wound to get started. Be sure to have pen and paper handy for making notes. Important: make a gauge swatch in stockinette stitch.

What’s the format? With Lorilee’s instruction and an overhead camera focused on her hands, we’ll check our swatches, talk about sizing and ease, learn about the Bolin Cardigan’s construction, and then get on the road to glory by casting on. The sessions will focus on different parts of the sweater as we reach them together. The final session will celebrate our finished (or nearly finished) Bolin Cardigans, with time for Lorilee to answer final questions. Participant mics will be muted most of the time, and the chat box will be monitored constantly for questions from participants. Remember, this is a three-part series, so clear your calendars for all three sessions!

How far along on my sweater can I expect to get during the workshop? That is the best part! If you knit along with us, by the end of the three workshops you can expect to have a brand-new Bolin Cardigan. The workshop sessions are timed to allow participants to reach progress milestones together.  Bolin is short in length, and combines a blissful simplicity with bespoke details to keep a knitter engaged. It’s built for speed, with plenty of easy stockinette between moments that require a bit more focus on technique.

What if I want to work at my own pace? You can do that! While it’s fun to race through a sweater in a month’s time, there’s no pressure whatsoever to do that. All participants will receive Lorilee’s PDF of helpful notes and tips, and we will keep the video recordings available to participants indefinitely.

I can’t make it to all of the live Zoom sessions. May I still participate? Sure! Everyone enrolled in the workshop will receive a link to the recording for each session and all resources we share.