This cute little sweater was in my queue last year, but I never got around to making it. My niece’s birthday is coming up, and I wanted to make something fun for her. The Pengweeno is the perfect party jacket that I think she’ll love.
SIZING
The Pengweeno is a boxy, kimono-inspired jacket by WestKnits that’s mostly knit in garter stitch. There are 4 sizes, but two gauges (achieved with larger needle) so there are 8 total sizes. I knit the Toddler size with size US 6 needles for my niece.
YARN & CASTING ON
The Pengweeno is meant to be a great stash buster project. You’re encouraged to use whatever left over yarn you have, and work it all together to create your Pengweeno masterpiece. Since knitting consistently for a year now, I had a lot of little balls of yarn left over from other projects ready to choose from.
Most of the yarn I planned to use was DK from @SprinkledFibers left over from knitting my Briochevron Blanket. I also had a small amount from @SweetNesting left over from my Marled Magic Sweater. I thought this color palette would be so cute for my niece.
The Pengweeno starts with a provisional cast on which I’d never done before. This video was helpful for me to learn:
You use a crochet hook and a contrasting color yarn to create the provisional cast on. Later, you can easily remove it and pick up the live stitches. It took me a little while to get the hang of the crochet hook, but I liked this cast on. The October Hat also uses the provisional cast on, and it’s in my queue as well.
MULTI-SECTION
Construction
Like a lot of the WestKnits patterns I’ve seen, the Pengweeno is broken up in to lots of different sections. The construction starts with the back panel in seed stitch and then builds from there. It’s almost completely one piece, and then you seam in the shoulder and build out the sleeves.
I like having different sections to keep me feeling motivated. Since most of this jacket is knit in garter stitch, a lot of the design can come from the colors and/or marling. I didn’t plan my colors too much, and just used whatever color seemed fun.
Back Panel
I did a rainbow gradient on the back panel which I thought was pretty. I remember not liking seed stitch when I was first knit my Marled Magic, but now I really love it.
Welts
The welts on the Pengweeno looks so fun. I’d never knit welts before and I was excited to try. There are welts in the Perle Cottage socks I’m working on, but I haven’t gotten to that step yet. I used fingering weight yarn held double for the welts and I love how they turned out.
It was slightly awkward to find the correct stitch to create the welt with, but it turned out great. I really enjoy using fingering held double. I think it looks really pretty and it’s fun to see two strings/stitch especially if you’re marling or have a speckled yarn.
Sides
The sides had different sections and direction changes, but everything is mostly garter stitch which makes for a fast knit. I was surprised how much yarn this jacket used; almost all my DK left overs are gone!
Shoulders
The shoulder panel is knit separately and then seamed in to connect the front and back. I used one of my DK colors and sunshine yellow mohair held together. It definitely gives it a little more structure in the shoulder and obviously a soft fluffy glow.
I used the mattress stitch to seam the shoulder in, but I had WS facing. The seamed edge was on the RS and I was going to rip it out, but it looked cool. I kept it, and replicated it on the other shoulder.
Collar
I messed up on my second shoulder seaming. The live stitches were on my the neck edge, instead of the arm hole. I ended up jumping ahead in the pattern to the Border 2 section so I could connect those live stitches. The collar uses short rows to do the shaping, but the pattern didn’t say how to “close the gaps”. I’d done it before but couldn’t remember how, so I had to use this video to explain:
Sleeves
The sleeves were a lot of fun for me. They are knit in seed stitch flat. You only work the top side of the sleeve and then decrease the edges along the way. Then you connect the garter panel (put on hold from before) from underneath up through the length of the sleeve. I was able to knit them pretty fast, using my chiaogoo shorties.
I thought that design detail looked really cool. The sleeves are finished with a garter border cuff and I-cord edging. The pattern really calls out to do a loose bind off, and I think accomplished that. The sleeve feels slightly stretchy and I think it’ll be comfortable for my niece.
FINISHING
I-Cord Edging
To give the Pengweeno a polished finish, you add an I-cord edging all over. I remember first doing an I-cord edging on my Marled Magic and it took forever. I also think I could have made my I-cord a little looser on my Marled Magic. With this Pengweeno I tried to be very light handed with my tension.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I enjoyed knitting the Pengweeno for my niece, and getting to use up the last bits of my beautiful yarn.
I thought that some of the Pengweeno’s construction was unique and clever which made it fun for me to knit. There is a lot of garter in the Pengweeno which is super fast to knit, but not my favorite for an all-over look. Knitting this jacket has given me a lot of ideas for making my Penguono and the modifications I want to make.
Overall, I had no issues with the pattern and really enjoyed this knit. The Pengweeno is a fun pattern, a great stash buster, and a good canvas if you want to be creative with colors or stitch modifications.
Pengweeno Rating
Layout = ★★★★★
Organization = ★★★★★
Clarity = ★★★★★
Value = ★★★★★
Final Product = ★★★★★
Check out my Ravelry page for more pictures of my Pengweeno, and a look at my other completed projects.
