I have been constantly knitting since my first Flax Sweater, and I’ve been enjoying each new project. I recently completed this Le Pouf Sweater and wanted to share my experience.
I first saw the Le Pouf Cardigan by Hedgehog Fibers on Instagram and thought it was so cute. I loved the sleeves and the color fade that they showed it in, and even though I was working on other projects, I wanted to make one. Not too long after, they released a Sweater version and I knew that that was the pattern for me! I ordered one of their potluck/fade sets specifically made for the Le Pouf pattern and was super excited for it to arrive.
Before I start any project, I read through the instructions to make sure I have the materials, and that I know what to expect when I start knitting. With this free pattern, I was pretty confused. This was only my third sweater that I’ve knit ever, and I haven’t read many patterns so I wasn’t understanding completely where this pattern was going. I wasn’t too worried though because I figured that it would start to make sense to me as I knit and just followed the directions. I started preparing by highlighting all the relevant stitch counts on the pattern for my size. I don’t have a printer, so I just work the pattern directly from my iPad which is super great for highlighting what row I’m on or making/erasing notes.
I knew from my pattern that I would need to wind my yarn into center-pull balls. I’d never done this before and thought I’d need to buy some kind of gadget to help me, but I found this video on YouTube which explained it really well. I’m definitely going to wind all of my future yarn like this.
My yarn is super beautiful. I ordered the Le Pouf Fade Set #8 from the HHF site which is a beautiful fade from light blue with rainbow speckles to a deep purple. I also ordered a skein of Zephyr which is a white/cream with rainbow speckles to be the first color of my sweater. The Le Pouf sweater looked to be more cropped than I wanted it, so I thought that adding a little more of another color would at the shoulder ensure that I had enough yarn to take the body hem a little lower.
I wound my yarn into center-pull balls, and once I was finished with my Tundra Jumper, I cast on my Le Pouf Sweater.
CAST ON
I was really excited to start this project because this is the first time I’ve ever knit with yarn held double, and I thought the fade effect was really cool/seamless-looking. I knit the medium size Le Pouf Sweater, so I cast on my stitches — looks like the pattern has been updated since I started mine, so always make sure you check for the latest pattern.
I had the most difficult time getting started with this project. I didn’t understand how my first row could be WS. I cast on three different times before I just knit my first row, to establish a RS, then I followed the instruction for the purling WS set up row.
INCREASE FOR NECK
I am not the fastest at purling, so I didn’t really enjoy knitting flat at first. The two other sweaters I’ve knit were knitted in the round right from the beginning which I found so much easier. But I was excited to knit this Le Pouf sweater because it has more design to it — there’s a clear front and back, and it feels more like a garment you’d find in a store.
There were so many increases, and I feel like I got really good at my M1L/M1R which was fun, but I did not like those purl rows. Somewhere along the way, I did a stitch count and I was off from the pattern. I was disappointed and confused because I had thought I was following everything perfectly, but now I see that it was probably because the cast-on count was incorrect to begin with on my pattern. I made it work and kept going.
It was during this Rows 3-8 repeats that I started incorporating my next color yarn. I started adding the new yarn at the side of the arm to try and hide the transition a little better. I placed a stitch marker on the work as a little reminder to see where the marling started and ended. I think the light blue faded really nicely into the Zephyr color, especially since they both have rainbow speckles.
JOIN IN THE ROUND
I was super excited to join in the round because it meant no more purling! I followed the directions, but cable cast on 25 stitches (instead of 24), so that I could bind one off over the joining stitch to make a tighter transition. I think it looked pretty good on that side, but could have looked better on the beginning of the cast-on.
I looked forward to the only knitting rows, so I didn’t have to worry about increases. But somewhere along the way, I randomly started purling for a small section and I was so sad. How could I have started purling again!? There was a line of purl bumps right over my shoulder area, so I had to undo the entire round, go back and fix it. It could have been worse. But I’m so glad I fixed it; it would have bothered me too much if I’d left it.
DIVIDE SLEEVES FROM BODY / BODY
I really saw that I had made progress when I divided the sleeves from the body. I switched to my smaller length cord (from 30″ to 22″) to better fit knitting just the body. I weighed my working yarn ball periodically, to know when to start incorporating the next color. The pattern said to save 50% of the yarn to work the fade on the sleeves, so I knit until I had ~50g of yarn in each color.
Knitting the body was my favorite because it was a nice break from counting stitches and increases. I just focused on the color fade and how many rows of marling I wanted. I didn’t try to make each transition identical, but just focused on how I liked the look of it. I added a stitch marker at each new color start/stop which helped me later when I was working the fade on my sleeves. This knit was so much fun. I love how soft and squishy the yarn is and how holding the fingering yarn double makes a more delicate/slinky feeling garment.
When I came to the bind-off, I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off because it was so perfect on my Flax Sweater. I don’t know how else to bind off loosely so that the hem is stretchy enough. I was glad that I added that little extra bit of Zephyr so my hem could be a little longer.
SLEEVES
When it came time for the sleeves, I thought I’d have to use my DPNs (I don’t know how to work Magic loop properly), but luckily, my smaller circular needles fit just right.
I had to read through the directions a few times because I didn’t know where the pattern wanted me to “pick up and knit” the first 4 stitches. I was holding my work RS and I had my held stitches on needles, but I still wasn’t sure to begin. I eventually figured out that I needed to start in the middle of my cast on stitches and then join with my held stitches.
It all worked out and I’m super happy with how the underarm looks. I had huge holes under the arms which my Flax Sweater, but with this sweater, I thought it looked great from the beginning.
Knitting the sleeves was a lot faster than the body. Instead of separating my remaining yarn into two balls, I just weighed my yarn at the beginning and made note to save half for the other sleeve. It was fun to start the increases and have something else to keep track of for the sleeve.
Having put stitch markers in the body to indicate color incorporation helped me to kind of keep the sleeves consistent with the body. I think my fades came out pretty even! I was able to use my circular needles until the very end ribbing where I switched to DPNs. It was a fun little switch, but I’m glad I didn’t have to do the entire sleeve with them.
COLLAR / FINISHING
After finishing both sleeves, I thought the collar would be super fast and easy. I have knitted a few cool things and they’ve all turned out really good, but I think I need to brush up on the basics. The pattern says to pick up and knit stitches along the neckline, but after ribbing 4-5 rows, I could see that things weren’t even. I ripped everything out and tried again, picking up different stitches to see how that looked. It didn’t look good either, so I started researching YouTube to see if there’s a right way to pick up stitches; there is.
So I started again, but instead of picking up two stitches for every three, I just tried to pick up every stitch. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I think it turned out great!
I wove in my ends, and I’m going to try blocking for the first time with this sweater!
LE POUF SWEATER FINAL THOUGHTS
I really enjoyed knitting this sweater and really love how fashionable it looks. Even though I was a little confused with the pattern at first, and I had an issue with the stitch count, I am so pleased with how it turned out and I love it so much.
I participated in the knit along (KAL) thread on Ravelry and it was so much fun to see other people’s progress while I was knitting the same project. I also liked seeing how other people chose their yarns. I feel like I struggle with picking complimentary colors which is why I follow what the pattern recommends or prefer to buy the specific sets. But with the Le Pouf Sweater, I think there’s so much possibility with the fades you can do, so I’m inspired to try to knit this again sometime with different colors/not a set and see how it goes!
I hope my experience with the Le Pouf Sweater has been helpful for you. If you’ve made it or the Cardigan, let me know how it went for you or share what projects you’re working on now!
