Knitting Louisa Harding’s Sofia

My knitting plans that I laid out back in January are no longer valid.  My vision has gone from cold weather to warm weather knitting.  I’ve shifted gears and decided to start knitting lightweight/short sleeved garments.  This includes knitting Sofia by Louisa Harding. 

So far, Sofia is knitting up nicely.  The instructions are very good and are given line by line.  I’m knitting the back section working my way up along the armholes.  There are front left and right sections to knit. The front edges are knit as a separate piece and then hand stitched along the fronts, bottoms and back edges.  This will be time consuming for me, but I’m sure it will be worth my efforts. 

I’m using a beautiful teal yarn called Revue by Reynolds.  The yarn has a bit more green than the picture shows.  It’s 100% merino and it’s soooo soft and squishy.  I got gauge with 20 sts using size 7 needles.  The twist in this yarn is exceptional.  I anticipate using less than half a bag of this yarn…somewhere around 500-600 yards.  Did I say bag?  Yes, I ended up buying 3 bags of this yarn in 3 different colors.  The other two bags contains aubergine and navy.  The bags were on sale and I couldn’t pass up the potential of making future  cardigans from this lovely yarn. 

The Sofia cardigan is from the Cardigans by Louisa Harding book I purchased last year.  This book was a wonderful find as there were many cardis that caught my attention and would love to knit. 

Kitty is beautiful lace and cable cardi design.  I think this would be a fun knitting project that would definitely keep my attention. 

Here’s Minnie also from the Cardigan book.  This cardigan can be knit with short or long sleeves and with lace or cable trims. 

I’m back to knitting garments in pieces versus in the round.  That means more seams and keeping my knitting skills in check. 

If you get a chance, check out the this wonderful book by Louisa Harding. 

Mini Book Review - The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques

Many times as I'm knitting a garment, I tend to forget the direction of the increases/decreases or which one is the best technique for the particular project I'm working on. Or which edging will work best for my garment.

I've uncovered another knitting book that I wanted to share with you:

The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman

This is another great reference book to add to the knitting bookshelf or for nightstand reading. The material is presented in a simple and easy to understand format. Plenty of diagrams to follow. I love the spiral bound binding as the book lays flat while your trying to knit and read/follow the example. This book is kept right along side of my two other reference books...the Knitting Answers book and the Knitter's Companion book.

Each chapter is presented with Benefits and Drawbacks section for the stitch or technique presented. Valuable and helpful information that gives insight into which cast on method to use, increase/decrease methods and which way the stitches look, selvages, bind offs, and different seaming techniques. Also, included is information on how to pick up stitches (valuable!), knitting borders/bands/finishes, and buttonholes.

If I had to take one reference book with me in my knitting bag, it would be this book. It summarizes a lot of basic knitting techniques that I have and would use in a hand knitted garment.

Book: The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques
Author: Nancie Wiseman
Publisher: Martingale & Company
Publication Year: 2002
Pages: 144
ISBN: 978-1-56477-452-1
Retail: $24.95

More Knitting Resource Books

Another great resource book to have on hand is The Knitter's Companion book. As I am progressing further along in my knitting, this book is becoming invaluable. It's a small hardcover book with a spiral binding on the inside. I can easily flip through the book and lay the pages flat.

The topics include: In Preparation (supplies & notions, yarn structure, yarn sizes, yarn label symbols, formula for interchanging yarns, yardage estimates, taking body measurements, body measurement tables, sweater ease allowances, weights and lengths, abbreviations), The Basics (continental method, English method, slipped stitches, yarnovers, gauge, measuring the knitting, reading patterns & charts), Cast-Ons, Joining Yarns, Increases, Decreases, Bind-Offs, Blocking, Seaming, Hems and Hemming, Borders and Edges, Details (beading, buttonholes, duplicate stitch, french knot, fringe, knitted cord, pom-pom, tassel, etc).

You can find a sample of the pages here at Interweave's site,The Knitter's Companion book.

Small hardcover book with spiral binding inside


When I feel like reading about knitting, I will pick up this book The Knitting Answer Book. It's a great Q&A book on knitting. Over 350 pages of Q&As and helpful information. It's small in size and can easily be carried in a knitting bag. Some of the Q&A topics found in this book: knitting basics, binding off, tools, yarns, reading patterns, pattern stitches, circular knitting, color (e.g. stripes, intarsia), shaping, fitting, finishing (blocking, sewing, solving problems), embellishments, etc.

The author includes many tips and hints. There are a few drawings/diagrams included.

A nice portable book to carry in the knitting bag


I purchased both of these books last year when I started to knit. It wasn't until the last two months that I started to use them.

Sometimes when I have a few minutes to read, I will pick up one of these books and learn something new.

My Current Resources - Basic Knitting Books

I am still knitting/working on my sweater. In the meantime, I wanted to do a post about the resources I am using to help get me through my first knitted garment. Though the Internet has been wonderful, there are times when I can't get to my computer or don't have the time to surf. Here are two books that have helped me get out of a few binds.





This is a really cool, portable knitting book for beginners like me. It covers just about everything you wanted to know about the basics of knitting (e.g. tools, stitches, increase, decrease, finishing, sweater construction, blocking, seaming, picking up stitches, buttonholes, etc). This small & compact reference book is always in my knitting bag.

For more detailed information/pictures, I've come to rely on this book. This is a great reference book to use. It shows many of the the how to steps as well as what the end results should look like. There's an introduction to knitting, basic techniques, basic stitch patterns, shaping, correcting mistakes, learning to read written instructions, knitting in the round, more complicated stitch patterns, openwork, color knitting, finishing, decorative details, and includes some easy and intermediate knitting projects. I love this book for the pictures.




Both books have been a valuable resource to me and helped me advance to the different stages of knitting/putting my sweater together.