While I was knitting my Briochevron Blanket, I started looking for my next fun project. I am still newer to knitting, but I feel like I’ve knit a good variety of items that I am confident researching new techniques and executing a pattern. I wanted a challenging project and I found a really pretty cabled sweater, but I thought it would be too advanced for me.
The search for a beginner/intermediate textured sweater with cable detailing led me to the Favo Sweater by Fiber Tales. I loved this sweater right away because of its front cable panel, braid detailing, and the honeycomb brioche. I’m not a super fan of cropped sweaters, but this one looked chunky and I loved the texture.
YARN
I wanted to find the perfect yarn for this sweater to be a birthday gift to myself. I found the most gorgeous yarn at La Bien Aimee, but I wasn’t sure if it would show the cables and texture since it has a lot of splashes of color and speckles. This really was the only color I wanted for this sweater, so I decided to place my order for Merino Aran and Mohair Silk each in the Peanut Butter & Jelly colorway.
Shipping from La Bien Aimee was ridiculously fast, especially since it came from Paris. To give some perspective, I ordered the Mercury Retrograde palette from Sephora on a Friday (with 2-day Rouge shipping), and I ordered my Peanut Butter & Jelly yarn from La Bien Aimee on Saturday. Both orders arrived that next Wednesday, and the yarn arrived 6 hours earlier!
I love this yarn so much; it’s incredibly soft and the color is amazing. I am so happy with my purchase.
PREPARATION
As with every project, I studied the pattern a lot to try and get an idea of the construction and to make sure I could do the required techniques. This sweater has a lot of elements that were new to me which I was excited to learn. I work all patterns directly from my iPad instead of printing them out. I like to go through and highlight any relevant sizing information, and then I’ll mark and erase my progress as I work.
This sweater is constructed, meaning you knit the pieces separately (front/back/sleeves) and then sew them together. All of my previous sweater knits were either knit in the round, or flat/all one piece.
I liked this Favo Sweater pattern because it appeared well laid out, and there were links to video tutorials for the trickier techniques. I really like being able to see that kind of explanation from the designer. I was a little annoyed though that those private videos linked in the pattern required me watch multiple ads before the video played. I feel like I already paid for this pattern; why are you showing me ads on the supplemental videos?
CAST ON
Once I felt comfortable enough with the pattern and the videos, I was ready to cast on. The pattern recommends using a German twisted cast-on which I’d never done. I used this video tutorial to learn, and I really love the look.
I did need to keep a long tail for my cast-on especially for my number of stitches. I left my mohair on the yarn swift instead of trying to wind it into a ball since it’s so silky and seems like it’d get easily tangled. The La Bien Aimee yarn is so gorgeous and I love the speckles of hot pink and burnt orange popping out in the rib pattern.
After the ribbing, the pattern goes into directions for the front panel, but suggests starting with the back piece if you want to only focus on the honeycomb brioche. I thought that would be best for me since the front panel is much more complex.
BACK PANEL
Before I started the back panel instructions, I inserted a life line. I’d never done honeycomb brioche, and even though the videos made it look easy, I didn’t want to lose my ribbing.
Honeycomb Brioche
The pattern goes into charts for the back panel pattern, but there are also written directions for the honeycomb brioche chart. I prefer written instructions, so that’s what I referred to.
Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to navigate the stitches I needed with my lifeline in the way so I removed it. *foreshadowing* I started working the honeycomb brioche, but I remembered that, in the video, she had a knit stitch on each end. This wasn’t mentioned in the written instructions, or on the chart1. I went back through the pattern and it is not in the Back Panel instructions either….it’s only mentioned under the Front Panel instructions. Did it only apply to the front panel? The pattern mentions “end with a column 1 of the repeat”, but that didn’t seem to make sense based on the chart. To be clear, there is a pink square icon in the chart’s key for “edge”, but that icon is never used in any of the charts. I was confused, but because she mentioned the knit edge in the video and didn’t mention that it was only for the front panel, I assumed it applied to the Back Panel too. If that’s accurate, I wish that note would be listed under the Back Panel instructions and included in the Chart/Written Instructions.
1 UPDATE: The designer clarified and revised this section in a pattern update released 8/21/20.
Chart A
In the video, the honeycomb shapes don’t really become clear until she completes a few rows. I wasn’t too worried until I got to Row 4 for the Written Instructions – Chart A. I wasn’t getting the K2tog stitch like it said. I was confused because I was going slowly and following everything perfectly. I checked the chart, and that’s when I saw that the chart and the written instructions for the chart don’t match. :/ The pattern is very clear on how to read the chart — “on the RS you work the charts from right to left, and on the WS from left to right”. That’s what I did, and the chart is different from the written instructions.
The written instructions for Chart A also lists each instruction as “Rnd1, Rnd2” etc. instead of “Row”. So I questioned if these were directions just for the sleeves when knitting in the round. But there is a separate section under the Sleeves category which has its own directions specifically for honeycomb brioche in the round (which includes special purling rounds like she mentioned in the video).
So then I was questioning everything about what I’d just knit. I watched the video again, and the instructions she says in the video match the chart. So, I guess the written instructions are just wrong — it looks like they explain the chart without the “RS right to left/WS left to right” reading. I also found a 3rd party video to make sure of the correct sequence.
Just for clarification, the sequence I knit is:
Row 1 (RS): K1 *K1, K1B* K1
Row 2 (WS): K1 *K2TOG, K1* K1
Row 3 (RS): K1 *K1B, K1* K1
Row 4 (WS): K1 *K1, K2TOG* K1
I was super sad because I had to rip out all my honeycomb brioche progress, and my lifeline was gone. 🙁 It’s so awkward trying to undo a stitch you aren’t familiar with. I felt I couldn’t tink back properly with the K1B and and the mohair being so delicate. I ripped back as slowly as I could and was able to save most of my ribbing.
Fixing Honeycomb Brioche
Later on, I messed up on my honeycomb brioche and needed to tink back. This video was super helpful in undoing a K1B.
I insert another life line along the way just to be safe and continued working in pattern. At one point, my K1B messed me up again but I couldn’t tink back. I had to rip back and re-do it, and then I messed up on my middle panel by purling instead of knit. I ended up working this one section multiple times; I was so frustrated. The designer’s video showed how to pick up your honeycomb brioche stitches after ripping back, and that really helped me get through that part. Luckily, I never needed to rip back down to a life line.
Back Panel Modification
The pattern explains how to modify your sweater to be a bit longer if you choose (yarn estimates in the pattern include this option), so I decided to add 2.5 inches to my back panel since I prefer a longer sweater.
Neck Shaping
I really love the look of the honeycomb brioche and I’m glad I started working the back panel first so I could just focus on that one new stitch. Once I got to my desired length, I started with the Neck Shaping section. As I was working the Left Shoulder, I noticed an error — it says Rows 5,7 are WS, but it should really say RS. Little errors like that are incredible confusing and frustrating for me. I still consider myself a new-ish knitter; I rely on the pattern a lot and I expect it to be accurate.
On the Right Shoulder, it says to end on a WS row working as usual, except change the knits to be purls. I totally get that since it’s the same as the Left Shoulder, but then I was confused how to also BO on the WS since my yarn was ready to start a RS row. It’s things like that where I am sure it’s just my inexperience knitting that was making it hard for me. Ultimately, I did my BO on the RS. It’s what I did on the left shoulder and it seemed to turn out fine.
Braid + Bind Off
The braid is such a creative design element; I really love how clever and easy it was to make. It was a little scary ripping back my stockinette columns and I did have to pull out my life line slightly, but it all came together so neatly. To bind off the rest of my honeycomb brioche stitches, I used Jeny’s Super Stretchy Bind Off since that’s worked well for me before.
I love how beautiful, squishy, and soft my yarn is. The halo from the mohair just glows and I feel like it’s a true luxury.
FRONT PANEL
I’m glad I took the pattern’s suggestion and worked the back panel first. It was a good way to familiarize myself with the honeycomb brioche stitch without all of the extra details of the front panel.
I had never knit cables before so I was studying the pattern’s Chart B to get a feel for what was happening. The chart also has written instructions for the RLLS and the LLLS, and a video tutorial about it. That is so helpful; I love hearing the explanation and watching the demonstration.
Chart B
Just looking at Chart B, I noticed that the red “repeat” boxes aren’t symmetrical on each half of the pattern. The left half is missing two of the red boxes. I feel like this is confusing, but I’d never knit cables and am not sure how charts are supposed to show repeats. I obviously assumed the left side was to be repeated since I know what the completed pattern is supposed to look like. It actually seemed like the whole thing between rows 3-8 is the pattern and is meant to be repeated, except for the Bobble sequence which is on a shorter repeat. At least that’s how I interpreted the chart.
Also, the key under the Chart B talks about “1/1 LC” and “2/4 RC”, but I couldn’t figure out what LC and RC meant. They aren’t mentioned in the pattern’s “Abbreviations” section or anywhere else through the pattern. I would like to see all abbreviations spelled out at least somewhere in the pattern. In researching how to read cable charts, I found this video that was super helpful. “LC” means a Left Crossing cable and “RC” means a Right Crossing cable. But ultimately, I found a site which had written instructions for 1/1 LC and 1/1 RC that I used since the pattern instructions were a little confusing to me.
LLLS & RLLS
I was really enjoying working the front panel of the Favo Sweater. I was used to the honeycomb brioche stitch so it was fun to incorporate the new cable/detail section. I love how the pattern explains where to place your stitch markers to help keep track of your place in Chart B. Things were going well for me, but I was getting some large gaps around the RLLS and the LLLS. I was following the directions exactly (or so I thought). I watched the tutorial video linked in the pattern and I was doing everything right…so what was the problem?
In the video, she mentions that Row 1 and Row 2 are setup rows of stockinette just so you have room to pull up the first leaning stitches. That was my first problem — I was following the written instructions under Chart B and it never mentions that those two rows are just setup only. I had been repeating Rows 1-4. 🙁 Other patterns I’ve used will call out that certain rows are just for setup, so you know they aren’t included in the repeat.
Another error I was making was in Row 4 of both the LLLS and the RLLS. The pattern writes the instructions out and on the line below, it says to repeat rows 3 and 4. Because there was no paragraph spacing or a gap between the two lines of instruction, I misinterpreted that Row 4 was asking me to do the purling and then also do a repeat of row 3 and 4. I feel like this is an issue with the pattern’s clarity — Rows 1 and 2 should clearly be called out as set-up rows, and there should be some spacing between Row 4’s direction and the next instruction to “repeat rows 3 and 4”.
Like I mentioned, I love that the designer included written instructions, and linked a video tutorial. However, I don’t think that one should need to use the video to understand the pattern. The videos should only be a supplement — a bonus, but the pattern should be clear and detailed enough to stand on its own.
Bobbles
The Bobbles were probably my favorite part to knit. I was glad I had just knit the Magnolia Little and learned about nupps there. I thought the directions in the pattern were super clear and the bobbles were easy to make. They give so much texture and dimension; I love how they turned out.
The bobbles were on a different repeat than the rest of the pattern, so I knit them more frequently. It was really fun to keep track of the different patterns. This is where I feel like it’s so great to work on the iPad to track my place. I was able to cross off my completed rows as I went, and then just digitally erase to start the pattern over again.
Cables
I think this is a great sweater to introduce someone to knitting cables. There are two main cables in this sweater next to each other that look like one giant cable right down the middle. The pattern directions are very clear and made it easy for me to tackle this new technique. I got a cable needle just for this project and I’m excited to knit another cable project in the future.
Like I mentioned, I found the 1/1 LC and RC pattern instructions a little confusing. I know it’s probably easier to bypass the cable needle and do it like the pattern explains, but I wasn’t understanding those directions. This site explained it really clearly for me, and even though I had to use the cable needle for the one stitch, I felt confident that I was doing it correctly.
I highlighted my Chart B with different colors to help me know which of the cables were which, and then I highlighted the corresponding instructions so I could easily find the directions.
When I was a little over halfway through the front panel, I realized I had done my main cables in the wrong order. I had highlighted the opposite instruction to go with the chart, so my main cable appears inverted. I was a little bummed, but I wasn’t going to rip back at that point. I decided that it’s a design feature!
Once I got more familiar with the front panel sequence, it was so much fun to knit. I love the challenge of tracking all of the different elements, and how beautifully it was all coming together. I insert a couple of life lines throughout just to feel more comfortable if I made a mistake.
Knitting cables is a lot less intimidating than I thought. After this sweater, I think I’m ready to try a more challenging cabled sweater. I plan on knitting this one for my husband and using this yarn in Cirrus Gray or Nimbus Gray
Front Panel Modifications
I chose to modify the length of the front panel by adding 2.5″ before starting the neck shaping to match my back panel. My inverted cable was an unintended modification, but I think it looks good.
Neck Shaping
I took a screenshot of my pattern once I reached the desired length of my front panel (instruction length + my 2.5″ modification). This was helpful for me because you continue to work in pattern over the right shoulder only until the required length. Because I had a screenshot, I knew exactly where to start the pattern for the left shoulder. My pattern allowed for one more bobble before binding off those stitches, and with my screenshot, my final bobbles are symmetrical on each side.
The neck shaping on the front panel goes a little longer than on the back panel. I really like how the 1/1 mini cable goes up the entire way up the neck.
Braid + Bind Off
The braids were easy to create just as with the back panel. I’m so glad I have a crochet hook to be able to create it easily. I don’t know how to crochet, so I’m not really sure where I got the hooks from but I use them all the time.
I like the little check-ins where the pattern gives you a quick stitch count — “37 stitches remaining”. It helps me ensure that I bound off the correct number of stitches and that I’m still on the right track. I used Jeny’s Super Stretchy Bind Off loosely again, and I really like how it works with the honeycomb brioche.
The bind off on the left shoulder calls out to BO on the RS which makes perfect sense to me since it called out that the previous/ending row was a WS. This makes me feel like I was right to BO on the RS of the back panel’s right shoulder. I don’t know how it could work any other way.
BLOCKING + SEAMING
Once I was done with the front and back panels, I lightly blocked them to better match each other so I could stitch them together.
The pattern recommends using the mattress stitch to sew the seams together, but says that you can also use the three-needle bind off. I’d done a three-needle bind off on my Marled Magic Sweater and it went well for me. But I’d already followed the other directions for binding off on each shoulder, so the three-needle bind off wasn’t an option for me.
I’d never done a mattress stitch before, but it seemed pretty straight forward. I easily seamed both shoulder panels together and it was so much fun. I love how invisible the join is, and I was able to control the tension to prevent any bunching. I will definitely use the mattress stitch again.
Once my shoulders were seamed, I picked up stitches for the collar. I ended up picking up 76 stitches for my ribbing. I knit until 2.5″ and then loosely bound off with Jeny’s Super Stretchy Bind Off again. I used a darning needle to sew the folded over collar to the seam of my picked up stitches. I also did this technique with my Marled Magic and I think it looks really clean and finished.
SLEEVES
I was really excited to get started with the sleeves because they are knit in the round. I am much faster knitting in the round and I was looking forward to a change from the body pieces. While the body of my sweater was blocking, I tried to cast on for my sleeves. Unfortunately, my smallest circulars were still too large to join in the round. I could have tried with my DPNs, but I am not the strongest with DPNs, and I felt like honeycomb brioche would be too complicated for that. I hadn’t done much with Magic Loop either, so I didn’t feel very strong with that technique.
I’d had my eye on the interchangeable Chiaogoo Shorties set, and I decided this was the time for me to purchase them. I am so excited for them because now I can easily knit any kind of sleeves for any of my new projects. And what’s also nice is these needles will work with my original Chiaogoo interchangeable needle set, so I have even more options.
Once my needles arrived, I cast on with my new Chiaogoo shorties and they are super cute. It was a fun change of pace to knit in the round, and to get used to the new honeycomb brioche pattern.
Increases
When it came time for me to increase within the honeycomb brioche stitch, I was having a hard time. I watched the designer’s video and I understood where to pull from to M1L and M1R, but I didn’t understand how I was supposed to maintain the honeycomb brioche pattern. The video doesn’t show anything beyond her making the increases around the BOR, but I really wanted to see how the increases would affect the pattern.
For example: my pattern is *K1, K1B*, and I just added a M1L increase as my first stitch and a M1R as my last stitch. When I start my second round (*p1, p2tog*), the stitches are shifted and the honeycomb brioche pattern is broken. Now, there is no stitch for me to p2tog because I’m out of sequence from the previous K1B. I wish this part was explained in the video.
The only way I could understand to still complete the increases and keep the pattern was to not split the increases between the beginning and end of the row. Instead, I started a round by adding two increases (M1L, kfb), and then when it came time for the next increase (~1″ later), I added two increases at the end of the round (M1R, kfb). That way, overall, it was still symmetrical on either side of my BOR marker, and I was able to maintain the honey brioche pattern better.
I started out my sleeves with my 2″ Chiaogoo shorties on the 5″ cable, and by the time I finished the increases, I moved up to 3″ needles on 8″ cord. I love interchangeable needles for this type of thing so much; it’s so much easier to swap to the size you need.
Even though I was maintaining the brioche pattern, my sleeves still have looser areas where the increases were. I wasn’t enjoying knitting it and ended up taking a break for a while. I don’t usually work on multiple projects at a time, but I was really discouraged with the sleeves that I started another project to just take a break from them.
I don’t think the looser areas look bad, but I almost wish the sleeves were knitted flat and then sewn together. I feel like that would give it a crisper seam and look better.
ASSEMBLY
Once my sleeves were done, I was ready to assemble my sweater. I never seamed up the sides of my body, so I had those and the sleeves to seam together.
I first flattened my sleeves so that they were flattened at the seam, and the seam was pointed inward toward the body. I used locking stitch markers to join the body with the sleeve, and the front and back body panels. Then I used the mattress stitch to seam everything up. I really love the mattress stitch now. It was a little tedious, but it looks so good and was really easy. Then I repeated the seaming on the other side, and my sweater was complete!
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I love this sweater so much. The design is so creative and unique. The texture and details throughout make it so special. I think this has to be my favorite sweater I’ve knit so far, and I love the yarn I chose. I feel like the mohair kind of hides the stitch definition a little, but I still love it because my sweater is incredibly soft. This is my perfect birthday sweater!
As you read, I was frustrated with the little errors and clarity issues with the pattern. For a paid pattern, I expect these problems to be worked out already. I did like the video tutorials linked within the pattern; it’s always nice when a designer goes the extra step to explain their techniques. However, I don’t think those videos should have ads — I feel like I already paid for the pattern, and the accompanying content should be ad-free. And I don’t think I should have to watch the videos to be able to understand the pattern. The pattern should be clear and detailed enough on its own.
I really do love this sweater and I enjoyed knitting it, even though I was frustrated with a few things. If I do decide to make another Favo Sweater in the future, I’ll have this post and be better prepared. This pattern was released earlier this year, so I’m hoping that the pattern will be more polished in a revised version.
Overall, I would recommend this pattern based on the sweater’s design; the sweater is beautiful. I think it’s a great introduction to cables and reading charts. And hopefully my post will help you if you are having the same issues that I did. Check out my Ravelry Project Page for more pictures of my Favo Sweater, and to see what I’m working on next!
