I knit my second Honeycomb Aran using this beautiful Shamrock color, and wanted to share my modifications. I used my same cheat sheets from my first sweater, and this time around was super easy. Read more for my Shamrock Honeycomb Aran Knitting Experience.
The Honeycomb Aran is a free sweater pattern by Patons. It’s a beautiful all-over cable sweater that’s sewn in pieces and seamed together. I finished a Honeycomb Aran for my husband earlier this year (my first cabled sweater), and knew I wanted to make one for myself.
YARN
I initially wanted to used this beautiful green/blue yarn from Malabrigo, but when it arrived I saw that it was way too variegated for a cabled project. I’m ok with some tonal changes and variegation because it’s more fun for me to knit with, but the Malabrigo yarn was too much for me.
I ended buying Hedgehog Fibres – Merino Aran in the color Shamrock. This color glows beautiful golden and green; truly a shamrock color. There appeared to be some differences between skeins, so throughout the entire project, I alternated skeins every RS row.
MODIFICATIONS
I wanted my Honeycomb Aran to be a comfy pullover but not super long. I tried on my husband’s large size sweater, and liked the more oversized fit, but decided to make a few changes to the length.
BACK PANEL
I knit the body of the back panel using the cheat sheet I created when knitting my first Honeycomb Aran. This was super helpful for me since it saves me a lot of time, having everything on one sheet.
Download the cheat sheet here. (Note: it’s not a re-write of the whole pattern; just the cable pattern repeats in size Large).
I knit the back panel until 10″ before I started the raglan decreases. I insert a lifeline just before the decrease which helped me later on to keep symmetry when seaming.
SLEEVES
In my first Honeycomb Aran I knit the sleeves two-at-a-time (TAAT) which was tedious, but actually great. It allowed me to mirror every increase/decrease perfectly so that the two sleeves were identical.
This time, however, I chose to knit each sleeve individually, and let’s just say my sleeves are not identical. Part of my issue was that this was not my main project I was working on. I took long breaks from my Honeycomb Aran and didn’t leave myself the best notes. I followed my sleeve cheat sheet to help with the cable patterns.
Download my cheat sheet for the sleeve cables here.
I needed to shorten the sleeves from the pattern to fit me better, so I increased every other row until 69 stitches. Then, increasing every 4th row until there were 87 stitches. And then, increasing every other row until 103 stitches. I continued in pattern at 103 stitches until the sleeve measured 14″ (which wasn’t for very long), and then I started the raglan decreases.
FRONT + NECK SHAPING
Once the sleeves were complete, I started the front panel. I was very motivated to finish the final section. Again, I knit until 10″ before starting the raglan decreases.
I love when the decreases start and each row gets faster and faster. It’s a little tricky while knitting a decrease sequence and still trying to maintain the pattern.
SEAMING, COLLAR + FINISHING
I used the mattress stitch to seam all of the raglan edges together except for the left back, per the pattern. I am always surprised at how long it takes to seam, but I love the clean result from the mattress stitch.
I used a 14″ cable with my size US 6 needles to pickup and knit the required stitches for the collar. As you pick up stitches, the pattern has you decrease in some areas. I used a knitting calculator to figure out how to do my decreases evenly. Then, I joined in the round and knit the twisted rib collar.
I chose to do a shorter collar, so I bound off with Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off and then seamed the folded collar down. I really love the length of the collar and how crisp it looks rounded over.
Then I went back and seamed the final raglan closed, and the two under arm/body seams. I weaved in all the ends and then laid it out on a blocking mat. I used the technique in the pattern of laying a damp cloth over the top of the sweater and letting it dry. I don’t think the cable definition was reduced in any way like I thought might have happened before.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I love my Honeycomb Aran and I had a lot more fun making this one vs my first. The Shamrock color is so beautiful and unique and I can see myself wearing this a lot once it cools down. La Bien Aimee is hosting a #SummersweaterKAL2021 for just that reason! I am so ready for sweater weather to begin.
I hope my two cheat sheets are helpful to you:
Check out my Ravelry page for more pictures of my Honeycomb Aran, and sign up for my newsletter if you want to see more of what I’m working on.
