This is an extra special edition of WIP Wednesday, because, after 8 weeks of knitting, I have officially finished my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project! For this project, I made a Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s).

In today’s post, I’ll be chatting about the final stages of making the jumper, as well as sharing some photos of the finished product! I’ll also be taking a look back at all of the things I’ve learned while working on this project.

Progress

I have finished my Porcelain Sweater! Woohoo!

In the eighth week of working on this project, I finished off the second sleeve (including the second band of colourwork and the ribbed cuff). I weaved in all of the ends (which was definitely the most time-consuming job of the week) and blocked the sweater, so it’s completely ready to be worn!

Yarn Usage

With the sweater finished, I was able to work out how much of each of the yarns I used.

Overall…

I used approx. 505g (i.e. 10 balls + a very very small amount of the 11th) of the main colour (DROPS Merino Extra Fine, Off White 01).

I used an average of 2.9g per colour (range: 1.8g – 4.6g) of the Advent mini skeins I used in the first colourwork band (i.e. not on the sleeves).

I used an average of 5.3g per colour (range: 3.7g – 7.4g) of the Advent mini skeins I used in the second and third colourwork bands (i.e. on body AND sleeves).

There is quite a large variation in the usage of each of the mini skeins, which I suppose is based on what the colourwork design involves on each row: rows with more stitches worked in the contrast colour will inevitably use more than the rows with more minimal usage.

In general, the first colourwork band uses less of each colour because it is only worked on the body, not the sleeves.

Post-Knit Thoughts & Musings

With the jumper now completely finished, I thought I’d share some of my final thoughts about the finished product and the project as a whole.

Finishing the Knitting

The second sleeve worked up even faster than the first sleeve, because I’d done all of the mental effort (figuring out where best to work the decreases, when to change colours, how many rows to work etc.) already. This meant I could just follow my notes and do exactly what I’d done before!

Once the sleeve was finished, I’d officially finished all of the knitting for this project, because I worked the neckband beforehand.

Weaving in the Ends

With the knitting all finished, it was time to weave in all those ends. And boy, were there a lot of ends…

I’ll be honest— I didn’t enjoy this stage of the process, but I knew I wouldn’t. Weaving in ends isn’t my favourite job at the best of times and there were soooooo many to weave in here. However, it was a necessary step in the process— the penultimate task left on my to-do list before I could actually wear this thing!

I decided to be strict and not let myself procrastinate, which I may or may not have been known to do in the past with this particular job. I have to say, one thing that helped me shove my procrastinating tendencies aside was my desire to finish this jumper within that 8 week/2 month mark, just because it feels like such a nice, round timeframe. I know it sounds a bit silly as motivations go, but it worked for me (and I’ll accept any help I can get when it comes to my predisposition to putting things off)!

The simplest ends to weave in were definitely the ones in the ribbing, because it’s super easy to hide them in amongst the textured fabric.

The sheer number of colourwork ends made this part of the job a long one, but it wasn’t too tricky to hide them in amongst all of the floats. I would have loved to get a slightly neater finish overall on the inside of the sweater, but I think there’s a limit to how invisible you can make the darned ends without compromising how securely they are woven in. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself… Either way, the outside of the sweater looks super neat, so it doesn’t really matter, because I’m the only one who will see the inside!

Oddly enough, the ends I found the trickiest to weave in were the ends of the DROPS yarn (the main colour) that didn’t sit within any of the colourwork bands. It was really hard to make them look seamless because there was absolutely nowhere to hide: just a blank canvas of purl bumps! I did my best, but they still make me cringe a little when I see them… Oh, well.

Weaving in the ends definitely helped to even out the colourwork jogs that I had been a little worried about. Just tightening up those first/last stitches and securing them into the fabric made everything much neater, so, in the end, the much-dreaded, darning-in process was both a structural necessity and a visual luxury, which is a bit of a silver lining.

Blocking the Sweater

To block the sweater, I used this laundry soap from SOAK. It’s quite expensive (so I use it very sparingly), but it’s a really good, no-rinse formula that works super well for hand-washing knits. It’s stocked by lots of small, yarn-based businesses here in the UK.

Along with the SOAK soap, I also added a colour catcher into the water when I blocked the sweater. I don’t really think this was necessary, because the colours didn’t run at all when I did my swatch, but I didn’t want to risk it!

Once the sweater had soaked for a bit, I took it out of the water and squeezed out as much as I could, being careful to support the weight of the sweater as much as possible, to prevent it from stretching out. I popped it into my mum’s spin dryer to get as much water out as possible, then I spread it flat on a blocking frame to dry.

I didn’t pin it out, because I didn’t want it to crease (and because it didn’t seem super necessary). When I measured the gauge after I’d spread it out, it was perfect, so I figured it was okay to just let it do its own thing.

After a day or so, the sweater was completely dry and ready to try on!

Fit & Gauge Issues

If I’m being 100%, completely, truly honest, I’m a little disappointed with the fit of my jumper.

That’s not to say I don’t love it— I do! I’m really pleased with how the design turned out and I’m really proud of it. It’s one of the prettiest things I think I’ve ever made, and I think the gradient of colours looks really beautiful. It still looks lovely on and it does fit me, it’s just that that fit isn’t quite what I was expecting/intending.

As it turns out, it’s all because of my gauge!

I really, honestly do not know how this happened, but the horizontal (stitch) gauge on my finished jumper was out by 3! Whole! Stitches!

I swear that I measured my gauge multiple times on both my swatch and my sweater (while it was spread out on the blocking mat, post-soak but pre-dry) and the horizontal gauge was perfect (or even if it was ever so slightly off, it definitely wasn’t 3 stitches off, because… there’s no way I would have started knitting knowing that?!). However, when I measure my horizontal stitch gauge now, on my blocked and dried sweater AND my blocked and dried swatch from way back when, my horizontal gauge is off on both.

I must have made a mistake somewhere along the line, whether I measured my gauge incorrectly, or stretched the knitting as I blocked it, or misread the pattern— something must have gone on, but I have no idea what!

I admit, my vertical row gauge was off from the start, but I knew that and factored it into the pattern as I knitted. The proof is in these WIP Wednesday posts— I’ve talked about having to knit extra rows to compensate for this and how worried I was that I would run out of yarn because of that multiple times (though, on the bright side, I didn’t run out of yarn!).

I know that a 3-stitch difference doesn’t sound like a lot, but, in knitting gauges, that’s an enormous difference to the fit. The result of that 3-stitch difference is that the fit of the jumper is quite different to how I expected it. It’s not tight, but it’s more fitted than the sample shown in the pattern. I guess this isn’t necessarily a bad thing— it’s still very wearable and it will be easier to wear a jacket over it, but I am a little disappointed.

I am very pleased, then, that I decided to make the larger of the two sizes I was choosing between, because my Porcelain Sweater has about 10-15cm less positive ease than I was aiming for. In the pattern, there’s a note on choosing sizes, which states that the jumper has an intended positive ease of 15-20cm (though it does also state that the Porcelain Sweater in the pattern photos has a positive ease of 25cm). For me, it was a choice between a Medium (18cm of positive ease, with my measurements) and a Large (28cm of positive ease, with my measurements). Because I wanted my sweater to look more like the pattern picture, and I knew that my row gauge was a little tight, I opted to make the Large size and boy, am I glad of that now!

If I made the jumper again (with this particular yarn), I would definitely size up the needles or make a larger size overall. It’s ironic really, because I was super paranoid about the jumper stretching out loads after blocking (I read some crazy horror stories about this online!). I mean, I did use superwash yarn, so maybe I could “accidentally” stretch it out… just a little? Or is that dangerous territory?

I also think that, particularly on the sleeves, I should maybe have sized up my needles for the colourwork panels, because they do pull in slightly (again… maybe I could stretch this?).

However, I do think that the sleeve decreases are emphasising the problem, because the colourwork bands on the body are much less ‘pulled in’. Perhaps it was something to with how I wove in all those ends on the smaller circumference of the sleeves…?

To end on a positive note, though, one thing that I really do love about the fit of this jumper is that it sits very evenly on my body. I sometimes struggle with the hemline of jumpers looking a bit uneven, because my chest pulls the hemline up at the front, while the back stays low. I don’t have that problem with this jumper, which I’m so pleased about! I had considered this problem before I started, but I couldn’t think of a way to work around that (with short rows, bust shaping etc.) without getting in the way of all of the colourwork elements, so I opted to just make it as instructed and hope for the best, which is what I got in the end!

Lessons Learned

Time to look back over the last 8 weeks of knitting and pull out the biggest lessons I’ve learned! Even if I’m not 100% happy with how a project turns out, I always learn something and I know I’m becoming a better knitter with every project (and mistake) I make. I try to remind myself of this often, because I am someone who really hates making mistakes!

Obviously, this time around, the most important lesson I’ve learned is to be extra careful when gauge swatching. Measure multiple times! Ask for second opinions! Make clear notes and write them down for future reference, so you have a better foundation for figuring out problems later on! Don’t stretch your swatches! Read the right pattern! Periodically check your gauge as you go! Then, cross your fingers and send a prayer to the knitting gods!

Gauge has a huge impact on fit (as we’ve all learned today), so mastering gauge swatching feels like it will be a really important step for me on my knitting journey. In all honesty, I’ve always struggled a little with getting my knits to fit really well, so that’s definitely something I’d love to get better at.

On a more technical level, while making this sweater, I learned a lot about making folded neckbands (which I think are very cool)! I also expanded my knowledge of colourwork charts a bit, because the ones in the Porcelain Sweater pattern did contain some notation that I had never seen before. Of course, I also furthered my knowledge of how to construct a knitted sweater! I haven’t made a huge number of jumpers in the past, so this is still relatively new ground for me, but I’m getting more and more confident with each one I make.

Final Thoughts

And with that, my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project comes to an end!

I’ve really enjoyed working on this project (even if I didn’t enjoy every step of the process quite as much…). I loved knitting the colourwork bands, watching the gradient of colours develop and using my treasured Advent yarns for such a special, exciting project!

I also really enjoyed sharing this project with you in a longer format— it’s a bit different to how I’ve done things in the past, but I think it’s a good way of keeping my slow, mindful hobbies… well, slow and mindful! It’s also nice to share all of the ups and downs that come with creating something— I’m not a super advanced knitter and I’m still learning, so I am forever making mistakes (much to my chagrin), and I think it’s nice to show the reality of that online.

For the next month or so, I’ll be working on smaller, festive projects— ones that I cannot wait to share with you in December(!), so there won’t be any WIP Wednesday posts in November. 

However, if all goes according to plan, WIP Wednesday will be back in December, because my next ‘big’ knit is going to be a festive jumper that I want to knit in the build up to Christmas, during Advent. This will be my first time working on a designated ‘Advent‘ project and I’m really excited about it! I probably won’t get the whole sweater done before Christmas (I mean, this one took me 8 weeks!), but it’ll be fun to see how far I can get! The next jumper is much less experimental than this one, but I’m really excited about the finished product (and I promise that I’ll triple check my gauge swatch this time around…).

I can’t wait to share the moodboard, pattern and yarn with you!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

It’s week 7 of making my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). 

Last week, I made the neckband of the jumper (you can find that post here). In today’s post, we’re talking all things sleeves!

Progress

In the seventh week of knitting this project, I…

• Made the whole left sleeve (!)
• Made about half of the right sleeve

I’m super happy with my progress this week! I was a little worried about making the sleeves, because there are two bands of colourwork on each one, as well as the section of 1×1 rib for the cuffs, so I thought they might take a little while to work up. Fortunately, I was wrong! The smaller circumference really makes them fly by (even with the colourwork/rib), which I’m very pleased about!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

Just like with the neckband, picking up the stitches for the sleeves around the armholes was… a little bit of an ordeal. You’re supposed to pick up approximately 3 sts for every 4 rows, but my row gauge is a bit off (something I’ve had to keep in mind throughout the whole project), so mine was a bit different. For the majority of the armhole, I picked up the stitches in the following pattern:

Pick up 1, skip 1, pick up 2, skip 1.

I did pick up all 3 of the stitches at the underarm, because I wanted to make sure the seam was nice and strong there, which can often be a weak point.

I also picked up 3 extra stitches, which I spaced out evenly (one at the shoulder and one at the halfway point between the underarm and the shoulder on each side), just to get to the right stitch count.

It’s a bit complicated, but it’s what worked for me! The aim was just to keep the picked up stitches as evenly distributed as possible.

On the bright side, unlike the neckband, there were no diagonal sections, so it was much easier to work out where to pick up the stitches from this time around.

Once the stitches were picked up, it was time for some plain stockinette— I worked 14 rows.

Then, it was colourwork time!

I have to say, when I saw the charts for the sleeves… my heart sank. They looked so intimidating!

Luckily, I got used to them pretty quickly— the motifs themselves are exactly the same as the body charts, they’re just laid out in their entirety (rather than as a repeating motif) to make it easier to work the different sizes. Once you figure out the pattern repeat on each round, it gets a lot easier (you just have to pay a bit more attention at the beginning and end of each round!).

The sleeves are shaped using centred double decreases. I enjoy working these decreases and they look very neat, but they are a little bulkier than a regular decrease (because they use 3 stitches instead of 2).

For my size (L), you’re supposed to work the decrease on the third round of Chart B, but, because you decrease right at the end of the row/start of the next row, I couldn’t quite figure out how that fit in with the colourwork in the chart. In the end, I worked that particular decrease at the end of round 2/start of round 3 instead, which I think fit better? Who knows!

All of the other decreases within the charts (there are two decrease rows in each one) fall in the blank sections of the colourwork, so I just worked the other three decrease rows as instructed.

One thing that I was super happy about was that, on the sleeves, you don’t have to alter the stitch count for the leaf motif— it just fits in! I was so pleased, because I found changing up the stitch count on the body a bit fiddly (it took me far longer than it should have to work out the logistics of) and I was kind of dreading having to do it again.

For the stockinette section in between the bands of colourwork, I worked 24 rounds, which is the same number of rounds that I worked between the bands on the body (this is more than the pattern calls for, because of my tighter row gauge).

After working Chart C, I worked 16 rounds of stockinette before beginning the cuff. I actually forgot to change to the smaller needles on the final round of stockinette, so I had to tink back…

There is an obvious jog in the colourwork at the BOR, but I do think that is exacerbated by the colour changes and loose ends. I’m hoping that when I weave in all of the ends it will even out the jog a little!

I worked the ribbed cuffs using the same technique I used for the hem and the neckband, knitting the knit stitches English-style (i.e. my usual technique) and purling the purl stitches continentally, to keep everything nice and neat.

I worked the same number of rounds as I had worked for the hem (30) to keep everything uniform, then bound off with HiyaHiya Grandma’s Super Stretchy Bind Off again.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, the sleeves are knitting up so much more quickly than I expected: I thought I’d probably have to write one weekly update on the first sleeve and another on the second, but I’m already halfway through the second sleeve! Ah, the joys of a smaller circumference (and not needing to manipulate stitch counts to accommodate colourwork charts)!

I still find picking up stitches a bit stressful— it’s definitely a task I find myself putting off. It took me a good few times to get right on the first sleeve, but at least then I knew exactly what to do for the second sleeve and could get right to it!

And that’s where I’m at! I’m hoping to finish the final sleeve pretty quickly so that I can sew in all the ends (…rip…) and block the jumper as soon as possible!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

It’s week 6 of making my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). I finished the body last week (check out the post here), so today’s post is all about the neckband!

Progress

In the sixth week of knitting this project I…

• Made the neckband!

This was a small job, but a slightly complex one. The neckband is worked directly onto the jumper, folded and knitted down to create a really neat finish— it’s not super tricky, but it does require a bit of focus!

The pattern suggests working the sleeves after the body, but I opted to work the neckband first. I’m hoping this will make it easier to visualise the fit/length while I’m working on the sleeves.

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

The neckband has definitely been the fiddliest part of this project so far, but I do think it’s worth it— it looks so neat and professional!

I definitely recommend watching the recommended video on www.leknit.com (you can find it here), because I found it incredibly helpful to see what was happening, rather than just trying to work it out from the pattern. The audio is in Danish, but you can turn on auto-translated subtitles that will give you the gist of it, plus you can still get a good idea of the technique just from watching the process.

I actually recommend watching both of the suggested videos in the pattern as you reach them: there is another video for picking up the stitches along the left shoulder that I also found very helpful (you can find that one here).

Honestly, the most difficult part of this neckline was picking up the stitches. It was fine when I was picking up stitches on the straight edges but, as soon as the diagonal edges crept in… chaos ensued.

Ultimately, it just took a lot of trial-and-error to decide how/where to pick the stitches up— I prioritised neatness (how seamless does the join look?) and strength (how loose/hole-y does the fabric look?), and tried to stay as consistent as possible with my approach throughout the whole neckline.

I did find it helpful to use lockable stitch markers to mark out where each section was: the pattern gives you the approximate stitch counts for the back, front and sides of the neck (so helpful!), which means you can break the process down into stages.

For the sides, I found it helpful to divide them up even further. I placed one lockable stitch marker halfway through each section, then another two to divide each side in half again, giving me four equal sections. I aimed to pick up an even (or as even as possible— the maths didn’t quite work out perfectly) number of stitches in each quarter, which helped keep to keep me on track

Honestly, the picking up stage took me a good while (I think two evenings!), because I had to keep going back, restarting and reattempting it. I was almost relieved to get back to the 1×1 rib when I finally finished!

Almost. I was almost relieved, because, yep, I still find 1×1 rib slow and vaguely soul-destroying. Sigh.

Just like with the ribbed hem at the bottom of the body, while I was knitting the rib, I worked the knit stitches in my usual method (English-style) and the purls continentally, which I find keeps my rib looking neater.

The ribbed section did take me a little while, but it was definitely nice to be working on a smaller circumference than the hem! I used a short circular needle for this to keep everything as neat and speedy(ish) as possible.

Once the ribbing was done, it was time to… pick up more stitches. I found this process a little easier (though still trickier on the sides!) this time around, because I already had a clear guideline: the seam I created during the first picking-up session.

The process of knitting the folded neckband down was a little fiddly, but it was actually quite a straightforward technique— that is, I understood what I was doing easily (after watching the video) but actually doing it made me feel a little like I was all fingers and thumbs! Nevertheless, it gave a really neat finish and I think the neckband looks super professional— I’m really happy with it!

I did switch back to purling with my usual method (English-style) when binding off the neckband, because I wanted to make sure it was as stretchy as possible (purling continentally tightens up the stitches, which makes for a neat finish but isn’t quite so conducive to a stretchy neckline!).

Final Thoughts

And that’s the neckband of my Porcelain Sweater officially finished! It was a little tricky, but I’m so happy with how it turned out— I think it looks really good and I love the way that the internal seam ends up entirely enclosed within it (what a genius design!).

I definitely feel like I’m getting closer to the finished product now! Just the sleeves to go!

Plus, you know, weaving in all those ends… but let’s not think about that just yet…

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

I didn’t share a WIP Wednesday post last week because I was busy with Wedding Cake Week: Season 2, so this post will be covering weeks 4 & 5 of making my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). 

Progress

I definitely feel like my progress has slowed down a bit— the more excited I get to finish this project, the slower I seem to knit!

In the fourth and fifth weeks of knitting, I have…

• Finished the 1×1 rib section on the body
• Cast off!

In my defence, I spent most of the first week making another wedding cake, so I only managed to knit about 6 rows that week— most of this progress took place in the second week (Week 5).

Also: now the ribbing is done, you can finally see the third colourwork band in all its glory! Wahoo!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

My goodness… I forgot how interminable 1×1 rib feels!

There’s a pretty hefty chunk of rib at the base of the body and, honestly, I didn’t love working it. The stitches were flying off my needles while I was doing the stockinette/colourwork sections, but I really had to dig deep to get the ribbed section finished.

In fairness to 1×1 rib, white it is usually slower than regular stockinette, there were a couple of extra things slowing me down this time around…

Firstly, for most of the ribbing, I was using a circular needle with ever-so-slightly too long a cable, so I was kind of yanking the work around the needles a lot. I knew this was happening, but I couldn’t believe it was enough to slow me down quite that significantly, so I stuck with it for about 3/4 of the ribbing… big mistake! Eventually, I made the swap to the shorter needles and… it was a lot quicker. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d done that earlier.

Secondly, I wanted my ribbing to be really neat, so I opted to use a technique I’ve been trying out recently where you knit the knit stitches normally (for me, that means English-style, or ‘throwing’) and purl the purls continentally (also known as ‘picking’). This can help tighten up the ribbing, which makes it look neater.

I actually really like this as a technique and have been doing it for most of my ribbing recently, but it does make the process take longer because you have to keep changing the direction of the yarn (and you have to remember to purl into the back of the purl stitches, because the continental method reverses their position on the needles!).

All-in-all, 1×1 rib is super slow, but I managed to make it even slower for myself. I’m just a glutton for punishment, I suppose.

After the ribbing, the pattern suggests using a tubular bind-off. I have done this technique before, with my Braidy Loop Sweater, but I didn’t love it: it felt like a lot of work, involved grafting with a very long piece of yarn and I think it has quite a tight, firm feel to it that isn’t my favourite.

Instead, I used HiyaHiya Grandma’s Stretchy Bind Off, where you purl the knit stitches and knit the purl stitches, always moving the working yarn behind the stitches as you work them, then pass the initial stitch over the second stitch. You can see the technique in action in this YouTube video by Carrie Ramirez (in the video, this technique is used for 2×2 rib, but it works for any ribbed pattern).

This bind off still has its own faffs (mainly the constant slipping of stitches back and forth to get the working yarn in the right position), but it doesn’t require any setup rows, it’s not a sewn cast off (so no trying to manage ridiculously long lengths of yarn!) and it has a soft, even feel and neat appearance, so I still think it’s preferable to a tubular bind-off!

Final Thoughts

Essentially, the ribbed section at the bottom of this sweater took me 2 whole weeks to finish (though, as I mentioned, there was a wedding cake-shaped distraction in that first week!). I didn’t really enjoy this stage of the process, because it just felt so endless and a little bit foreign to my fingers after all of that dreamy stockinette.

Nevertheless, it is done! Now I can move on to making this sweater body into an actual sweater: just the neck and sleeves to go!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

My current project is still my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), made using the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s). 

Three weeks into the knitting process and progress has been made: I’ve officially finished all of the colourwork on the body and knitted with all 24 of the Advent yarns. It’s very exciting seeing the majority of the body made and I’m absolutely loving how this project is looking so far!

Progress

In the first two weeks of working on this project, I worked all the way up to the end of the second band of colourwork, which I think is pretty speedy)!

The third week involved very straightforward knitting: no shaping, just a big chunk of plain stockinette and another band of colourwork, using the remaining 9 shades of the Advent yarns.

In the third week of knitting then, I finished…

• The 2nd band of plain stockinette
• The 3rd and final colourwork band!

My progress has slowed a little bit, because I’ve had a super busy month or so (more on that in due course… stay tuned!), but I’m so pleased to have finished the colourwork bands on the body— it’s lovely to see all of the colours together and have something that actually (kind of) resembles a sweater on my needles!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

The rows of plain stockinette are deliciously repetitive and comforting in their boringness: just what I need after the intense colourwork of each patterned band!

My row gauge is a little off, so I ended up working 24 rows for each of the plain stockinette sections (6 more than the pattern calls for). Will I run out of the DROPS yarn? That remains to be seen…

The third colourwork band was much more straightforward than the second: no float-carrying, no increasing/decreasing for certain sections, just pure, simple colourwork. Much more enjoyable (and much neater on the wrong side!).

I worked 6 rows of plain stockinette after the third band, switching to 3mm needles for the 6th and final row to prepare for the big stretch of 1×1 rib that is to come…

I’ve now used each of the 24 yarns in the Bridgerton Advent collection, so I can really see the gradient— it’s looking just how I pictured it would, which makes me so happy.

I do have more colourwork to do, because the second and third bands are repeated on the sleeves, so I’m not done with my contrast yarns yet. First, though, a lot of rib…

Castle View Yarns 2025 Bridgerton Advent: Shades 8-1

In the first band, I used shades 24-17 of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent gradient from Castle View Yarns, while in the second band I used shades 17-9. In the previous two posts on this project, I went through those yarns shade-by-shade, showing off the colours and contemplating their individual inspirations from the show (you can find my musings on shades 24-17 here, and on 16-9 here).

Now, it’s time to talk about shades 8-1! The first row of this colourwork band was knitted with shade 9, just to help the gradient flow through the sweater, but, seeing as I already talked about shade 9 last week, I’ll skip that one here.

Just like before, here are the shades, their names and my ✨educated guesses✨ of their inspirations from the show!

8: ‘One Always Has Worth’

This teal shade is named after a quote by Penelope, from her big speech in the Season 3 finale. In the scene, she wears a dress in a very similar shade, so I’m pretty sure that that’s the inspiration behind this yarn!

7: ‘Wallflower’

This green shade is one of the strongest and most vibrant colours in the whole collection: so much so that, when I first used it in my colourwork swatch, I actually considered leaving it out of the sweater, because I was worried that it might overpower the other shades!

However, once I’d finished the swatch completely, I realised that, despite being a strong shade, it did fit nicely in with the other shades so I decided to stick to my original plan and leave it in. I did, however, adjust my distribution of the 3-row shades within the colourwork, so that this shade was only used for 2 rows in the pattern, just to make sure it wasn’t too overpowering. The name of this shade must be a reference to the iconic dark green dress that Bridgerton’s resident ‘wallflower’ Penelope Featherington wears to Lady Danbury’s Four Seasons Ball in the first episode of Season 3!

6: ‘But You’re My Mess’

This aqua shade is named after a quote said by Colin Bridgerton to Penelope Featherington in Season 3 (we’re pretty heavy on the Season 3 inspirations in this section!). Both Colin and Penelope are… unclothed… when the quote is spoken, and the set is mostly dark blues and golds, so I think this shade is supposed to represent their relationship as a whole, rather than that particular scene. The greeny-blue hue is frequently associated with this couple throughout the series, as it’s supposed to reflect the merging of the Bridgerton family (who are typically represented by the colour blue) and the Featherington family (who are typically represented by the colour yellow), so this shade feels very fitting.

5: ‘Aubrey Hall’

Aubrey Hall is the Bridgerton family’s country residence. It features most prominently in Season 2, when Anthony, the eldest Bridgerton son, invites the Sharma family to stay there with his family, ahead of a large ball they are hosting. I think this green shade pays homage to the huge, perfectly manicured lawn of the residence, where the Bridgerton family engage in their cutthroat games of Pall Mall.

4: ‘We Shall Promenade’

The name of this pale green shade does sound like it references a particular quote from the series, but I just can’t seem to place it! There are a lot of promenading scenes throughout the series though, so I do think it needed a reference! The yarn is such a pretty shade too: pale green with little flickers of turquoise and specks of golden yellow.

3: ‘My Purpose Shall Set Me Free’

Another Penelope quote! This one is from Season 2, when Penelope and Colin are talking about Colin’s existential crisis… I think this yellow-green shade perfectly encapsulates the green grass in the grounds around the palace, the yellow of Penelope’s dress and the golden sunlight that shines down on the two characters in the scene.

2: ‘Flawless, My Dear’

This shade is named after a quote said by Queen Charlotte in the first episode of the first season, during Daphne’s debut (how far we’ve come!). This pale gold, champagne-y shade pays tribute to Daphne’s white-and-gold debutante attire, as well as the pearls (and other assorted finery) worn by the Queen.

1: ‘Lustre & Glitter & Gold’

This golden shade is named after a quote by Portia Featherington, said while informing her housekeeper, Varley, on her desired theme for the extravagant ball she plans to throw to celebrate the family’s new (sketchily-acquired) wealth. This yarn is, undoubtedly, aptly named!

Final Thoughts

And that is how Week 3 of working on my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project went! Even though I had a little less time to knit this week, I’m still loving working on this project and it was particularly exciting to see all of the finished colourwork bands together, with the whole gradient of colours running through them!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

I’m still working on my Porcelain Sweater (pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe), with the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns as the contrast colour(s).

I’m not a super speedy knitter (your girl has cakes to bake), but I felt like I got quite a lot of knitting done in the first week of making this project! The second week involved less shaping than the first, but just as much colourwork (in the round, this time, thank goodness) and I think I got a pretty good chunk of knitting done!

Progress

After the first week of knitting, I had worked the top of the back section (including the first band of colourwork), as well as both shoulders. I’d also knitted the first handful of rows after joining the right and left shoulders across the front.

In the second week of knitting, I finished…

• The top part of the front section (including the other half of the first colourwork band)
• Lots of plain stockinette rows in the DROPS yarn
• Joining the front and back together to start working the body in the round
• The second band of colourwork

So, a lot of colourwork this week, paired with a big stretch of stockinette!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

I am so relieved to be working in the round now— I’m a super slow purl-er and… knitting colourwork flat? It’s not for the weak. I’ve continued my gradient of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent colours into the second band of the sweater, so I’ve gone through the purples and dipped into the blues towards the end.

The second band of colourwork is definitely more complex than the first: not only is the repeat larger (and a little less intuitive to follow), you also need to increase and decrease the stitch count around the middle leaf design to make it work.

On some of the rows of the leaf design, I did need to carry the floats by twisting the yarns at the back of the fabric, which was a bummer, because I thought I had moved past all that float-carrying business once I switched to working in the round, but alas, the distance between the contrast stitches on some rows was just too great.

I think the aforementioned float-carrying and relative complexity of this band definitely meant that my work isn’t quite as neat as the first band, but I’m hoping that it will kind of… smooth itself out once I block it? Fingers crossed!

I did make one slight adaptation when it came to increasing the stitch count for the leaf motif. For my size, I needed to increase my stitch count by 6 stitches, so I placed 6 stitch markers around my work, evenly spaced, so I would know where to work them. I was supposed to increase on Row 8, but I ended up working my increase row on Row 9, instead.

I wanted my increases to be as invisible as possible, so I tried a few different types of increase (k2tog, M1L, LLI etc.) and I found that the k2tog made a visible ‘purl’ bump, so I opted to use a lifted increase. However that meant that if the stitch being lifted was a different colour (i.e. if I was lifting a stitch from the contrast colour row), the increase not only stood out more, but it also threw off the seamlessness of the colourwork. Shifting the increases to the Row 9 meant I could work M1Ls pretty seamlessly, knitting cream stitches on top of cream stitches, without distorting any of the colourwork (LLI lifts the stitch from two rows below, so I couldn’t use that one!). I suppose I could have done M1R, but I do not particularly enjoy working M1Rs so… M1L it is!

I worked my increases and decreases as close to my original 6 stitch markers as possible, but I prioritised making sure that they were well within the chunks of cream stitches (i.e. not too close to any of the contrast colour stitches), to minimise any distortion of the colourwork. I know this all sounds a bit… over the top, but I think it makes a big difference and I’m really pleased I took the extra time to think about it— it made me feel very professional!

Castle View Yarns 2025 Bridgerton Advent: Shades 16-9

I’m working through the 2025 Bridgerton Advent gradient from Castle View Yarns (in reverse) as my contrast colour(s), within the colourwork bands of this sweater. In the first band, I used the Shades 24-17 (which I talked about in detail in last week’s post!).

In this second band of colourwork, I used the shades 17-9. I mentioned last week that I only worked one row at the end of the first band in shade 17, so I continued on with it at the start of the second band to help the gradient flow through the sweater. However, because I did my deep-dive into that shade last week, I’ve skipped it in this post!

Just like last time, here are the shades, their names and my ✨educated guesses✨ of their inspirations from the show!

16: ‘The Modiste’s Thread’

This pinky-purple shade is obviously inspired by Madame Delacroix, the ton’s modiste in the show. In general, Madame Delacroix wears darker colours than this (think navys, blacks and dark purples!), so I don’t think it is directly inspired by her character, but, as the name suggests, by the fabrics and materials that she uses in her dress-making business! In fact, there’s a scene in Season 3 where she’s suggesting fabrics to Penelope Featherington and holds up a lilac material that does remind me a little of this yarn!

15: ‘Den Of Iniquity‘

This grape shade is named after Lady Danbury’s exclusive soirée for the married women of the ton, which Daphne Bridgerton is invited to in Season 1. Daphne wears purple to attend the event, a colour she shifts into wearing after her marriage. However, the Danbury colours are typically deeper, more jewel-toned shades, which I think is where the darker tone of this yarn comes into play.

14: ‘Bane Of My Existence’

This purple shade is named after one of the most iconic quotes from Season 2, said by Anthony Bridgerton to Kate Sharma. Kate is often shown wearing deeper shades (lots of teal and purple!) than her debutante sister, Edwina, and this moody purple feels very evocative of her relationship with the Viscount.

13: ‘Mallet Of Death’

The so-called ‘Mallet of Death’ in the Bridgerton family’s Pall Mall kit may be black, but Kate Sharma wields it twice throughout Season 2 and both times she is wearing a purple dress, so this deep, aubergine shade feels like a perfect fit!

12: ‘Love Is Not Finite

This shade is very similar to ‘Bane of My Existence’: a ‘true’ purple, albeit slightly deeper and more blue-toned. The name ‘Love Is Not Finite’ comes from the scene in Season 3, where Benedict offers his sister, Eloise, advice. If I’m being honest, I was sure that Violet Bridgerton said this line to Anthony in Season 2 (hence the purple), but I was completely wrong! While neither Benedict nor Eloise wear purple in the Season 3 scene, Benedict’s love interest Sophie does wear this colour when she works as a maid at Bridgerton House in Season 4 and, while I know these colours were designed long before the release of Season 4, I still think it’s a fun twist of fate!

11: ‘We Chose To Love

This lavender shade is named after a quote that is definitely said by Violet Bridgerton! She says this while imparting some advice to her daughter, Daphne, towards the end of Season 1. This colour ties in so nicely with Violet’s character, both with the purple reference in her name and the little specks of ‘Bridgerton Blue’.

10: ‘The Queen’s Sparkler’

This shade must be a reference to Francesca Bridgerton in Season 3, who makes her debut and eventually becomes the Queen’s so-called ‘Sparkler‘. This is a delicate, soft blue shade, shot through with hints of purple, pink and gold.

9: ‘What If I Want To Fly?’

This shade marks a clear shift into the blues of the gradient, and is named after a quote spoken by Eloise Bridgerton. Within the blue, this yarn contains hints of the green of Eloise’s dress in this scene, as well as a stronger, more vibrant blue shade that I think reflects the character’s bold attitude (and general recalcitrance) well.

Final Thoughts

And that is how Week 2 of working on my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project went! I’m still really enjoying this process, even though I found that leaf section in the second colourwork band… a little less enjoyable than the other sections! It’s been so satisfying watching the gradient form alongside the varying patterns and it has been very nice to fall back into the swing of knitting in the round again!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

Last week, I talked you through all of my plans for my current project: a Porcelain Sweater made with the 2025 Bridgerton Advent mini skeins from Castle View Yarns. This week, the knitting begins!

I actually have to confess something: I’m already a couple of weeks into knitting this sweater! By the time I got around to sharing my first WIP Wednesday last week, I had already been sitting on the post for a little while and got myself all in a pickle with the timeline… I figured the best thing to do was just to let you know, continue writing these weekly updates as I go and share them every Wednesday, so you’ll still see my weekly progress, just a couple of weeks after the actual knitting has taken place! Hopefully, after this project, I can bring my WIP Wednesday posts a little closer to real-time, so I feel less fraudulent…

Anyway, let’s roll back a couple of weeks and talk about the first 7 days of knitting my Porcelain Sweater!

Progress

Here’s what I knitted in my first week:

• Top of the back
• Left shoulder
• Right shoulder
• First few rows of the front, with the shoulders joined together

Not too bad, right?! So far there’s been a bit of shaping, a bit of colourwork-ing and a bit of good old fashioned stockinette stitch. Something for everyone!

Mid-Knit Thoughts & Musings

I have been really enjoying knitting this project— it feels like perfect balance of simple and challenging to keep me interested, but not overwhelmed.

From a technical side, so far, I’ve been able to practise the backwards loop cast on and German short rows, as well as my colourwork technique. Everything so far has been knit flat, so the colourwork has been a little bit of a learning curve— I feel like I’ve really nailed down my colourwork technique when knitting, but not quite so much when purling, so I’ve had to adjust to that.

I have found that I need to knit a few extra rows here and there in the cream stockinette sections, just because my row gauge is slightly tighter than the pattern calls for. I’m making a Size L and purchased 12 balls of DROPS Merino Extra Fine as my main colour, but I think there’s a relatively strong chance that I’ll run out (mainly because of those extra rows)… I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that I have enough!

After making my colourwork swatch, I decided to reverse the order of the contrast colours on the sweater, so that the warmer, pink shades are closest to my face. I’m very pale (sometimes bordering on a slightly… ghostly grey, depending on how unwell I’m feeling) but I do have brown eyes, so I think these will be the most flattering shades for me, hence the decision to position them closer to my face. I didn’t think of the placement at all until I made the swatch, at which point I realised I preferred the gradient upside down (as pictured) than right way up!

As a result, for my colourwork sections, I’m working from the Day 24 shade through to Day 1, not from Day 1 to Day 24. I spent a while deciding how best to split up the rows between the colours, and with a little counting and (light maths), I worked out that I could do 2 rows of each shade, plus an extra row of 7 of them, because I have 24 shades and there are 55 rows worked with the contrast colour. I tried to stagger the 3-row bands of colour pretty evenly throughout the jumper, so that the difference wasn’t too noticeable. I think it’s working really well so far!

I opted to recreate the colourwork chart from the pattern on Numbers (Apple’s slightly less heavy-duty answer to Microsoft’s Excel). I did this mainly so that I could use my own colours within the chart, because I realised things might get pretty confusing pretty quickly with so many colour changes. This also allowed me to get an idea of how the patterned band would look, which was very helpful.

I was a little confused by the chart for this band at first, because the middle section of stitches is labelled separately as the ‘repeat’. However, I followed my general policy of knitting-exactly-what-you-see (it has stood me in good stead so far!) and soon realised that, because this section is knit flat, the chart does not need to be (and is not) cyclical in its entirety, so it all made sense in the end.

In this colourwork band, there are four plain rows where you need to either carry the non-working yarn across the back of the work or cut the yarn and reattach it at the end of the row, so that you can work the pattern in the following row. I totally forgot that this would be the case, because I’m so used to knitting colourwork in the round, but it is often a necessary evil when working colourwork flat, like this. I managed to avoid one of these instances, because my contrast colour change fell in exactly the right place (which was unplanned, but absolutely delicious)! Towards the bottom of the band, I did have a scenario where I should have carried the contrast yarn behind the main colour, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to use more of my special, Advent yarns than necessary, so I cut that yarn and reattached it at the end of the row. I was a little reluctant to do that, because I’m already a bit worried about finding places for all of these yarn ends without bulking up the sweater too much, so for the other two instances, where it was the cream shade that needed to be carried, I did, just to reduce the number of ends (though I know this will not help my potentially-running-out-of-yarn problem…).

As it turns out, carrying yarns all the way across a piece of work is not one of my fortes: ironically, because patterns always warn you not to make your floats too tight, I always leave mine too loose! My current way of dealing with this is to knit the whole row, then go back afterwards and adjust the floats to make them the perfect tension, which isn’t the most efficient method, but has been working for me so far.

Also, before I forget, I’ve been very diligent about keeping my yarn dominance the same throughout this project, because I want to make sure everything looks really even. I’m keeping my contrast colour(s) as the dominant yarn, so, whenever I work the colourwork sections, I’m always double-checking that the main colour floats are going over the contrast colour floats (i.e. the contrast colour is sitting closer to the back of the fabric).

Castle View Yarns 2025 Bridgerton Advent: Shades 24-17

For the first band of colourwork, I used shades 24-17 of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns. There’s only one row of Shade 17 at the end of this band, but I’ll be using it again at the start of the second band too, to help the gradient flow through the design. I thought it would be fun to share the yarn shades that I’ve used so far here, along with their names and (my best guesses at) their inspirations from Bridgerton!

24: ‘Souls That Dance’

This golden orange shade is named after a quote from Season 2, said by Kate Sharma during her sister Edwina’s Haldi Ceremony. I’ve always loved the colours in this scene, so I was very excited to see it represented in this Advent!

23: ‘You Occupy My Every Thought’

This coppery-pink shade is named after a quote from Season 3, said by Penelope Featherington during Colin Bridgerton’s dream sequence. The scene takes place at night and is very romantic and misty, with firelight flickering across the stone walls and the actors’ skin, infusing everything with a subtle, pink glow. I think that rosy glow must have inspired this yarn!

22: ‘I Would Not Need Flowers’

This pink shade, flecked through with orange, is named after a quote from Season 1, said by the Duke of Hastings to Daphne Bridgerton. I think this shade really suits its name, but, try as I might, I can’t quite figure out the inspiration behind it! The pink shade does show up, albeit very subtly, in the scene, on the cravat of a passerby and (perhaps?) on the pattern of the Duke’s waistcoat, though I’m most inclined to take it as a reference to blushing, because the Duke was being… a little bit risqué here. Daphne’s hair also has quite a gingery undertone in this scene, so perhaps that’s where the orange flecks come in? Either way, I really love the combination of pink and orange, particularly in flowers, so I really, really love this shade.

21: ‘My Wit & My Wardrobe’

This berry shade is named after a quote from Season 1, said by the iconic Lady Danbury. This colour so perfectly encapsulates the character, who typically wears darker, more dramatic jewel tones— I love it!

20: ‘Scandal’

This blackberry shade has more of a general, thematic name, rather than taking inspiration from a direct quote in the series (scandal is, after all, a recurring element in the show, throughout all of the seasons!). This colourway has a similar intensity to ‘My Wit & My Wardrobe’, but is slightly more cool-toned, marking a shift towards the lighter pinks and lilacs in the gradient.

19: ‘Cressida’s Corsage’

This pink shade is (I believe!) another more general name: throughout all of the seasons of the show, Cressida Cowper’s dedication to the colour pink is unwavering, so this feels like a fitting tribute.

18: ‘Love Match’

This pale pink shade is shot through with hints of orange, blue and lilac. The concept of a ‘love match’ is a recurring theme in the show and I think this shade encapsulates it perfectly: to me, the pink creates a backdrop of love and affection, while the orange flecks infuse it with a little bit of fiery passion, the blue the more painful parts of real, human love and the lilac the peace that comes with finding a true connection. I think this one is particularly clever, even if I’m more drawn to some of the deeper shades.

17. ‘First Spark Of Affection’

We’re shifting into the purples now with this lilac shade. At first, I thought that this shade was inspired by Francesca Bridgerton, because I knew the title was from a quote in the scene in Season 3 where she is being introduced to the Queen’s suitor for her. However, upon further research, I actually think it’s inspired more directly by Violet Bridgerton (the speaker of the quote itself) and the outfit she’s wearing in the scene: a lavender jacket and a dusky, pinky-plum dress. I think this is a lovely tribute, especially given that Season 3 is when Violet finds her own ‘first spark of affection’ since her husband’s passing.

And those are the yarns from the 2025 Bridgerton Advent that I used for the first band of colourwork on my Porcelain Sweater! I worked 2 rows with each shade, except for ‘You Occupy My Every Thought’ and ‘Scandal’, which I worked 3 rows each of, and ‘First Spark of Affection’, which I worked 1 row of (and will continue on with at the start of the next colourwork band, to help the gradient flow).

Final Thoughts

And that is how the first week of making my Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent project went! I really am loving this process— I feel like I lost my spark a little with knitting, but it’s definitely back now. I think the fact that I’m just following the pattern, so it feels fairly simple, but doing something a little creative with the colours, so it also feels exciting and special, is working really well for me and I’m absolutely loving watching the pattern and the gradient appear as I knit.

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

You can check out Castle View Yarns here.

Gemma

xxx

Back in May, I set up a Knitting Scrapbook as a way of creating a physical record of some of my more ambitious and creative projects. Today’s post features the first of those projects: a Porcelain Sweater, made using the yarn from the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns! I figured this would be a great project to try out this new, weekly update approach because it’s a little more complicated than most of my other makes!

In this post, I’ll take you through my planning process for this sweater and chat a little bit about the yarn I’m using, how I set up the corresponding pages in my Knitting Scrapbook and, of course, the swatching stage!

Castle View Yarns: 2025 Bridgerton Advent

This project was definitely one that started from the yarn— I bought the yarn and chose the pattern for the yarn, not the other way around!

Because this yarn was an Advent collection, it is no longer available (which is a huge shame, because it is so, so beautiful!). However, Castle View Yarns has a large range of other beautiful yarns to choose from, so I’d definitely recommend checking out the shop anyway!

The Backstory

I was so thrilled that I managed to snatch up one of the leftover Merino DK versions of the 2025 Bridgerton Advent from Castle View Yarns last year, after I missed the cut off date for preorders. I had been intending to purchase the 4ply version, but it sold out immediately! Instead, I settled for the DK version and I’m actually really pleased now, because it led to this project.

The first time I heard about the Advent was through an Instagram post that was suggested to me the day after preorders closed (literally! The day after!), which was such bad luck. I was truly heartbroken because I felt like this product was just made for me: I mean, I love Bridgerton, I love yarn and I love Advent calendars! Even more so, I loved the concept colour palette for the collection: this gorgeous, muted rainbow gradient. Unable to admit defeat, I waited (kind of patiently, kind of obsessively) until Castle View Yarns announced when the leftover stock would be on sale, set multiple alarms and started refreshing the webpage from about 5 minutes before the release time. Honestly, I have not taken anything quite this seriously since I got my tickets for the Eras Tour!

At 6pm on the dot, on a dark evening in November, I was there, ready to go and get the yarn that I had been dreaming about ever since May. Unfortunately, I got lost on the webpage (no, seriously, I couldn’t figure out which listing was which and nearly purchased one of the Weekly Advents, which I’m sure was lovely, but wasn’t quite what I wanted!). Eventually, I found the right place, put the 4ply Daily Advent in my basket, went to check out and… it had been sold! Disaster!

In a haze, I went back to the listing and found that there were still a couple of the DK versions available. In that moment, I made a split second decision to go for it, despite having no idea what I’d use it for. I had come this far, though and was not about to be defeated!

My last-minute Advent arrived on the 1st December, which was super fast and meant I could open one yarn package each day, as intended. If you’ve been here for a while, you might remember that I was absolutely plagued by colds and illnesses last December, which was not fun at all, but opening up this Advent every day bought me so much joy— it was so special! I loved seeing all the colours in person, seeing the Bridgerton inspiration in their names and shades and watching the gradient form during the course of the month.

The Yarn

The 2025 Bridgerton Advent that I purchased included 24 x 20g mini skeins of Soft Merino DK (a 100% superwash merino, 225m/100g yarn). The shades form a soft, muted rainbow gradient, beginning and ending in the golden-orange shades. All of the shades had specific inspirations from the Bridgerton Series (up to Season 3, because Season 4 had not yet been released at that point!).

The yarns came individually wrapped and numbered in a velvety grey sack (like, a fancy sack, not a sack sack). A wax-sealed (!) envelope was enclosed, which contained a list of all of the yarn names, day-by-day. Also, there was a little glass bee stitch marker wrapped into the Day 1 package, along with the yarn, which was a fun surprise! My only problem was that, inside of the packages, the yarn itself was not labelled, so I used some card and safety pins to label it myself, in case I got all of the shades mixed up (which, honestly, might still have happened at some point— I wouldn’t be able to tell!).

I paid £145 for the Advent, along with £3.95 in shipping, bringing my total to £148.95. I know that this is a lot of money, though it is actually pretty reasonable for hand-dyed yarn from a one-woman business, I think! Nevertheless, I specifically saved for this product, knowing how much joy it would bring me and considering it a super special, Christmas present to myself.

Deciding What to Make with the Yarn

I spent a long time deciding what to make with this yarn. There are lots of patterns designed for 4ply Advent yarns, but not quite so many for DK Advent yarns. I spent a lot of time scrolling through Ravelry, looking for inspiration, obsessively checking the meterage of each project and just being generally indecisive and unsure.

Time ticked by (which is why I’m only just working with my 2025 Advent yarn now, in August 2026!), until I suddenly stumbled upon the perfect project. It was a pattern that was already in my favourites, that I knew I wanted to make at some point but hadn’t yet contemplated super seriously. It was, of course, the ever-popular Porcelain Sweater by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe!

Porcelain Sweater

The Porcelain Sweater is an incredibly popular, knitted jumper pattern. It’s typically made with just two colours: a main colour, which forms the bulk of the sweater, and a contrast colour, which is used to work three horizontal bands of colourwork. My idea was to use a classic, cream shade for the main colour, but to use the Advent yarns as the contrast colour, working my way through the gradient as I worked my way down through the colourwork

bands. To help myself visualise this, I sketched (read: I traced, your girl is not an artist) out what I had in mind on my iPad and, in doing so, convinced myself to go for it!

The suggested yarn for the Porcelain Sweater is a fingering weight yarn, held together with a mohair to give a DK-ish weight. I’m not a huge fan of mohair anyway, so I was happy to replace those two yarns with a single strand of DK. The next challenge was finding a cream yarn that was similar to the Advent yarn base that I could use as the main colour, which meant that, ideally, I wanted the yarn to fit the following conditions:

• Superwash
• Merino
• 225m/100g
• Not too pricey (because I’d already spent so much on the Advent itself!)

Eventually, I settled on DROPS Merino Extra Fine. This is a superwash, merino yarn that I have used before and isn’t too expensive (£3.50 per ball). It’s ever so slightly thicker than the Advent yarn (105m/50g, compared to 225m/100g), which isn’t ideal, but it worked out fine when I swatched it. You can feel the difference in the two yarns slightly when you’re knitting, but you can’t tell just by looking at the knitted fabric.

Knitting Scrapbook

Once I’d made all of those big decisions, it was time to get out my Knitting Scrapbook and christen it with its first project! I was so excited for this part— I really wanted the pages to reflect my vision for the finished project and add an extra level of fun and creativity to the whole process!

This project will have 3 x double-page spreads: a Mood Board, a Notes/Progress Tracker and, finally, a spread dedicated to Photos of the final product!

Mood Board

I wanted my mood board to have lots of colour, to reflect all of the colours in the finished jumper! I really leaned into the scrapbooking style and layered up patterned papers, printed photos, stickers and stamped designs to encapsulate everything that had been swirling around in my mind since I dreamed this project up.

I included my mockup of the finished jumper, as well as the original pattern photo from LE KNIT and a still from the show of Violet Bridgerton drinking from a porcelain cup (because it felt very fitting).

I also included images of the yarns I would be using: photos of the Advent yarns that I had taken, as well as images of the DROPS yarn that I found online and the original graphic for the Advent too.

Notes/Progress Tracker

This spread is a little less busy, because its main purpose is to provide a space for me to jot down any important information about the project as I knit it up.

On the left-hand page, I have labelled the space ‘Notes’: this will be where I can write down any significant changes I’ve made, or any otherwise important information that I need to remember (needle size, yarn amounts etc.).

On the right-hand page, there’s a space for keeping track of my progress. This isn’t as useful as the notes section but, seeing as this scrapbook is supposed to be part-useful journal, part-memento, I think it will be a nice page to come back to in the future and see how long the project took me and what order I did everything in.

Gauge Swatching

The Porcelain Jumper is knit both flat and in the round at different points throughout the process. In both sections, some of the work is plain, using only one colour, and some of the work is worked with two strands of yarn to form the colourwork. Because of this, it was hard to know which way to work the gauge swatch: I usually swatch in the round, because the majority of a jumper is usually knitted that way, but it is one of my absolute least favourite things to do.

In the end, I began the swatching journey with a flat swatch of just the DROPS yarn on 4.0mm needles. I then worked a swatch in the round using the same yarn and needles, so that I could compare my tensions. My tension in the round was a little looser, so I tried making the flat swatch again using a 4.5mm needle. I blocked my swatches, checked my tensions and decided that the yarn would work for the pattern and the suggested 4mm needle was best, both flat and in the round (either the flat swatch loosened out a little or the round swatch tightened up— who knows, but they were pretty similar in the end!).

The next stage was to swatch the colourwork. I decided to swatch the colourwork flat, because I knew it was going to be a complicated enough process without introducing the whole working-in-the-fake-round thing. I opted to knit a single row of each of the 24 colours of yarn in the swatch so that, when I blocked it, I could see whether any of the colours would run, which was one of my biggest concerns with this project. The charts in the pattern each contain 17-19 rows of colourwork, so I had to extend one of them a little to fit all 24 colours in (which was no matter— it’s just a swatch after all!).

Amazingly, none of the colours ran, despite the fact that there are some quite deep-toned reds and purples, along with some quite strong greens. I was thrilled! I was also absolutely in love with the swatch: just like my mockup of the finished Porcelain Sweater, the colourwork swatch definitely gave me that “I’m on the right track!” feeling.

Final Thoughts

And with that, I was ready to begin! I planned this Porcelain Sweater x Bridgerton Advent pretty thoroughly, because I knew it was a little out of the ordinary for me. At the end of the day though, I did just want to get going so, once the DROPS yarn arrived, I got started! I haven’t made a whole lot of sweaters, so I was slightly daunted, but I was also so excited to see how the project worked up.

As I mentioned, I’m going to be trying something a little new with this project by posting weekly updates. I’ll be showing you how far I’ve got, chatting about any changes/choices I’ve made and sharing my mid-knit thoughts with you as we go. I hope I’ll see you back here next week, for another WIP Wednesday!

If you're interested...

You can purchase the Porcelain Sweater pattern by LE KNIT by Lene Holme Samsøe on Ravelry here.

You can find the Ravelry project page for my Porcelain Sweater here.

Gemma

xxx

The first recipe in this series is for these Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits: my tribute to the Li Sisters, Rosamund and Posy, who made their debuts in Season 4.

The Inspiration

Season 4 of Bridgerton is, at its heart, a Cinderella story. As part of that, it follows the oft-used approach of having one of ‘Cinderella’s’ stepsisters be, well, nicer than the other: in this case, Posy is an absolute sweetheart and Rosamund is… I guess, whatever the opposite of that is.

Do you guys remember that old nursery rhyme that says something about girls being made of “sugar, spice and everything nice”? These two characters really remind me of it: Rosamund feels very spice and Posy feels very sugar. The official Bridgerton Instagram account ALSO referenced sugar and spice with regard to these characters (you can see the post here!), which made me feel extremely validated, so I figured that the whole sugar & spice thing would be a great concept for this recipe.

Last Christmas, I made Swedish Schackrutor for the first time as part of my Baking Around the World series. These tiny shortbread biscuits have a 2×2 checkerboard pattern, made with a combination of vanilla and chocolate dough. I thought these checkerboard biscuits would be a perfect base for this recipe: two sisters, two completely difference personalities and two doughs, all coming together to make one (delicious) biscuit!

When it came to deciding on the flavours, I was partially influenced by the whole sugar-and-spice vibe, but also partly by colour. In much of the promotional media for Season 4, Rosamund and Posy are seen wearing pink and green floral-print dresses: both fabrics feature the same pattern, but the colours are inverted. This fit so well with the checkerboard biscuit idea, I just had to make these biscuits pink and green, which heavily inspired the resulting flavours. I also love that these biscuits feel super Bridgerton: they’re colourful and fun, but they’re also fancy and delicate.

I’m not opposed to using food colouring, but, if I can, I prefer to use more natural alternatives. These biscuits are food-colouring free, tinted pink and green by the freeze-dried strawberry powder and matcha powder, respectively. Strawberry and matcha not only fit the pink-and-green colour palette perfectly, but they’re also a really delicious pairing, as evidenced by the strawberry matcha lattes that went viral over the past year (or two years? Or five years? I’m not even sure…)! I really liked the idea of these biscuits referencing the time period in which Bridgerton: Season 4 was released, as well as being inspired by the Regency setting of the show, so I ran with the flavour combo.

I did, however, want to incorporate a spicy element into the biscuits, so I opted to pair the strawberry flavour with pink peppercorns. I’ve actually heard of people pairing strawberries with black pepper before, so I figured pink peppercorns weren’t too much of a stretch: they’re milder (though they still bring a little bit of warmth to the dough), with a slight citrus-y note, and fit the pink colour palette perfectly, so I figured they’d be a great option here!

Honestly, I’m not usually the biggest fan of matcha (sometimes I just find it a little too earthy?), but I had a matcha panna cotta once that I absolutely loved and I think the difference was the presence of vanilla in the recipe: it really brings out the sweetness of the matcha without overpowering its flavour. Therefore, I opted to include a small amount of vanilla bean paste in the matcha dough, to make it a little more sweet and a little more delicious (for me, at least!).

Ingredients

The basic biscuit dough is a simple shortbread, using the classic 1-2-3 ratio of caster sugar-butter-plain flour (the same base that I used for my Schackrutor recipe). I’ve used unsalted butter here, but you can use salted butter if you prefer.

This recipe doesn’t make a huge batch of biscuits (they’re pretty tiny!), but you can easily scale it up to make more if you want.

To flavour the doughs, I used the following 4 ingredients:

• Freeze dried strawberries

It turns out that freeze dried strawberries aren’t as readily available as freeze dried raspberries in the supermarkets near me (who knew?), so I purchased mine on Amazon. They’re a great way of getting loads of strawberry flavour into bakes, particularly ones like shortbread that can’t handle too much additional liquid.

I bought freeze dried strawberries slices and ground them into a fine powder myself, using a mortar and pestle. If you can find them in powder form, you can absolutely buy them like that instead.

• Pink peppercorns

Surprisingly, pink peppercorns are not related to the classic black peppercorns we know and love (I’m lying, black pepper and I do not see eye to eye). Pink peppercorns are actually a dried berry! However, because they have a pepper-y flavour, they’re often grouped together with the other peppers of the world. Along with their relatively mild, but still warming, pepperiness, they have an almost citrus-y flavour, which works really well with the fruitiness of the strawberries and the earthiness of the matcha powder.

You can of course leave the pink peppercorns out to make these into Strawberry Matcha biscuits. I’d probably still keep the vanilla in if you do this, just to really highlight the matcha flavour.

• Matcha powder

Make sure you get a high quality, pure matcha powder (not one of the flavoured alternatives) for this recipe. It can be quite expensive, but you don’t need much at all for this recipe.

• Vanilla bean paste

I like to use vanilla bean paste in these biscuits because it adds plenty of vanilla flavour without adding as much liquid as regular vanilla extract would (and without the faff of dealing with a vanilla bean). As I mentioned earlier, I find that adding vanilla to matcha desserts really brings out the sweetness of the matcha, so I definitely think it’s a worthwhile addition to this recipe!

How to Make Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits

Making the base dough for these checkerboard biscuits is super easy: you just put the ingredients (sugar, butter and flour) into a food processor (I use a mini one) and pulse/process until everything comes together. That’s it!

Things get a little more complex when it comes to flavouring and shaping the biscuits, but it’s still pretty straightforward once you know what you’re doing.

First things first, split the dough into two equal portions. I like to use a weighing scale for this to make sure that both halves of the dough are exactly the same size.

Add the matcha powder and the vanilla bean paste to one half of the dough. To the other half, add the freeze-dried strawberry powder and the ground pink peppercorns.

Working with one dough at a time, knead in the flavourings until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough and the colour is even.

Once you have both doughs ready to go, you need to split both of them up into smaller portions. Again, I like to use a weighing scale for this to ensure the portions are all the same. Start by dividing each ball of dough into 3 equal portions.

Then, divide 2 of each of those 3 portions in half again. You should be left with 1 large ball and 4 small balls of each dough flavour. The smaller balls will form the checkerboard body of the biscuits, while the larger ball will be rolled out and wrapped around the biscuits to form the border.

Use your hands and a bench scraper (or a clean, metal ruler: anything that will help you to really square off the edges of the dough) to shape each of the smaller balls into rectangular logs (you want the cross section of each log to be approximately 1 cm x 1 cm), making sure the logs are as equal as possible in length. You should end up with four green logs and four pink logs.

Carefully press each green log up against one of the pink logs, making sure they are stuck together, but being careful not to squish the dough out of shape too much.

Place one pair of logs on top of another pair of logs, positioning it so the top green section sits on top of the bottom pink section and vice versa. This creates the checkerboard pattern. Again, press them together, but try not to distort the shape too much. Repeat this process for the second pair of logs, so that you have two short cuboids featuring a 2×2 checkerboard pattern.

Now, it’s time to wrap the biscuits in their final dough layer! This gives the biscuits a really pretty border and makes them feel that little bit fancier (if you’d prefer to make the biscuits sans border, follow the instructions on my Swedish Schackrutor post instead— the dividing of the dough is a little less complicated if you do it that way too!).

Take one of the large dough balls and roll it out between two pieces of baking paper (you don’t want to use flour at this stage, because it will prevent the dough from sticking to the biscuit logs, so the baking paper is there to stop it from sticking to your work surface/rolling pin!). Aim for a rectangle the slightly wider than the length of one of your checkerboard logs, and long enough to wrap around the whole thing (approx. 8cm). Try to keep the thickness as even as possible, so that the border looks super neat.

Peel off the top layer of baking paper, then place one of the logs onto the dough, positioning it at one end.

Use a sharp knife to trim along the back of the log, as well as down both sides, flush with the edges of the log. This will make the final dough layer really neat.

Use the baking paper to help you roll the log down the length of the dough, wrapping it up in the dough as you go and pressing the edges gently to ensure the dough sticks to itself, until you’ve covered the whole thing like a little Battenberg. Trim off any excess dough at the end.

Repeat this process for the second log, using the other dough flavour (the final ball!) to cover it. Wrap both of the biscuit logs tightly in clingfilm, then place into the fridge to chill for 2 hours. This will firm the dough up, so that you can slice the logs without distorting your hard-earned checkerboard pattern.

There’s no need to throw away the dough offcuts— roll them all together and form them into a couple of round biscuits (top left in the photo above!). Aim to make these biscuits a similar size to the cross section of your biscuit logs (approx. 3-4cm in diameter). You can bake them alongside the ‘official’ biscuits as little chef’s treats later!

Once the logs have chilled, unwrap them and use a sharp knife to cut them into slices, approx. 5-7mm thick.

Space the biscuits out on a baking tray, lined with baking paper (they won’t spread too much, so just leave a little gap between them). Bake them at 180°C (conventional oven, not fan) for 6-8 minutes, until they’re just turning golden around the edges (this is usually easier to see in the strawberry-flavoured sections than the matcha ones!).

Allow the biscuits to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before enjoying.

Leftover biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days before they start going a little soft.

Recipe

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Pink & Green Checkerboard Biscuits

Inspired by the Li Sisters in Bridgerton: Season 4, these shortbread biscuits are the perfect blend of sugar and spice. Two doughs, one flavoured with matcha and vanilla, the other with strawberry and pink peppercorns, come together to make a delicious, checkerboard-pattern treat

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword Matcha, Pink peppercorns, Shortbread, strawberry, Vanilla

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 8 minutes minutes

Chill Time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours

Servings 16 biscuits

Ingredients

• 25 g caster sugar
• 50 g unsalted butter, diced and softened.
• 75 g plain flour
• 1/2 tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder (see Note 1).
• 1/2 tsp pink peppercorns, finely ground.
• 1/2 tsp matcha powder
• 1/8 tsp vanilla bean paste

Instructions

• Place the sugar, butter and flour into the bowl of a food processor (I use a mini one). Pulse/process until a dough forms.
• Use a weighing scale to divide the dough in half, then place each half into a separate bowl. Knead the freeze dried strawberry powder and ground pink peppercorns into one of the dough halves, then knead the matcha powder and vanilla bean paste into the other.
• Divide each ball of dough into 3 equal pieces. Then, divide 2 of the 3 balls in half, so that you are left with 1 large ball and 4 smaller, equal balls of each colour.
• Use your hands and a bench scraper (or a clean metal ruler/anything that can be used to square off the edges of the dough) to form each of the smaller balls into short, rectangular logs (the cross section should be about 1 cm x 1 cm) of the same length. You should end up with 4 green logs and 4 pink logs.
• Press one pink log alongside one green log. Make sure they are stuck together, but try not to distort the shape too much. Repeat this for the remaining logs.
• Press one pair of logs on top of another, positioning them so that the top green section sits on the bottom pink section and vice versa. Repeat this for the second pair of logs, so that you end up with two larger, rectangular logs with a 2×2 checkerboard pattern.
• Roll out one of the larger dough balls between two sheets of baking paper. Don't add any flour at this stage. Aim to roll the dough into a rough rectangle, slightly wider than the length of one log and a little over 8cm long, so that it can be used to wrap all the way around one of the logs.
• Peel off the top sheet of baking paper, then place one of the logs on top of the rolled out dough, at one end. Use a sharp knife to trim off the excess dough along the back of the log and down both sides, flush with the edges of the log.
• Using the baking paper to help you, roll the log down the length of the rolled out dough, pressing gently to help the dough stick to itself, until it is completely covered, like a Battenberg. Trim off any excess dough, then repeat the process for the second log with the final, large ball of dough (in the other colour).
• Any offcuts can be rolled together and pressed into little round biscuits to be baked alongside the checkerboard biscuits later.
• Wrap both biscuit logs tightly in clingfilm, then place them into the fridge to chill for 2 hours. This will firm them up, so that you can slice them without distorting the checkerboard pattern.
• After 2 hours, preheat the oven to 180°C (conventional oven, not fan). Slice each log into biscuits about 5-7mm thick, then space them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper. The biscuits won't spread very much, so you don't need to leave heaps of room between them.
• Bake the biscuits for 6-8 minutes, until just starting to turn golden around the edges. Allow them to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling before serving. The biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days before they start going a little soft.

Notes

1. If you buy the slices of freeze dried strawberries, this works out at approximately 2g (or 5ish slices). Grind the slices into a fine powder using either a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. 

If you missed the first 5 parts of the series, you can find them here:

• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #1: Introduction
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #2: Making the Brick Blanket
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #3: Adding the Surface Crochet Vines
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #4: Making the Rose Pieces
• Bridgerton House Baby Blanket #5: Making the Wisteria Pieces

A Note on Child Safety

Obviously, because this is a baby blanket, it’s important to make it as safe as possible for young children. When developing this pattern, child safety was always at the forefront of my mind, so I have used specific techniques for sewing on each of the appliqué elements to make sure everything is attached as securely as possible. Having said this, anything handmade will only be as safe and secure as you make it- if any elements are not sewn on securely, they will pose a serious choking hazard. Additionally, accidents can happen- appliqué elements may become loose after repeated use, or as a result of the wear-and-tear of daily life, so, just to be on the safe side I would not recommend leaving a young child/baby with this blanket unsupervised.

Equipment

To assemble the blanket, you will need the following equipment:

• All of the appliqué elements (i.e. the roses, rose leaves and wisteria pieces from parts #4 and #5).
• Sewing needle (with an eye large enough to fit DK weight yarn).
• Scissors.
• Crochet hook (optional: I used this to help position the elements before I stitched them down, to ensure I was happy with the overall look before attaching anything permanently).

That’s it! If you’ve left long ends on each of the appliqué elements, as instructed in the specific posts (one pink end for each rose piece, one dark green end for each rose leaf and two light green ends for the wisteria pieces), you shouldn’t need any additional yarn at this stage. This means that you will end up with fewer ends to darn in (a major win, if you ask me) and the appliqué elements will be attached more securely.

Positioning the Elements

Before you start sewing, it’s a good idea to lay out all of the elements on the blanket, so you can get an idea of how the finished blanket will look. You can absolutely just lay the elements on top, but I found that all of the loose ends lying on top of the blanket made it difficult to visualise the finished product. This is where the crochet hook comes in! Lay the elements out where you want them, then pull the ends through to the back of the blanket using the crochet hook (the size of the hook doesn’t really matter- use whatever you have to hand). That way, you’ll get a much better idea of how the finished blanket will look.

The Layout

You can attach the appliqué elements in whatever layout you choose, but, if you want to mimic my blanket, here’s a rough overview of how I did it:

The Wisteria

The wisteria pieces are grouped together in clusters of 2 (1 long piece, 1 short piece). You should have 10 long wisteria pieces and 10 small, so you’ll end up with 10 wisteria clusters around the perimeter of the blanket. Start by placing one wisteria cluster in each of the four corners. Then place one wisteria cluster in the centre of each short side. Finally, space 2 wisteria clusters evenly down each long side of the blanket. Like this, you should have ten, equally-spaced wisteria clusters all around the perimeter of the blanket.

When it comes to positioning the individual wisteria pieces, make sure that each wisteria piece sits right on top of (or up against) one of the brown, surface crochet ‘vines’. This is important because that surface crochet is supposed to mimic the wisteria branch, so the wisteria flowers need to look as if they are growing from it! Make sure that the leafy end of the wisteria pieces sits closest to the branch, as pictured. I opted to position all of the clusters so that they were pointing inwards, towards the centre of the blanket, as if they are hanging down from the branch.

The Roses

Each of the spaces between the wisteria clusters is filled with a rose cluster, so you end up with a continuous, alternating pattern all around the perimeter of the blanket: wisteria, rose, wisteria, rose, etc.

For the most part, rose clusters consist of two rose pieces (1 large, 1 small) and one rose leaf piece. The only two exceptions to this are the clusters in the centre of each long side of the blanket: these rose clusters consist of three rose pieces (2 large, 1 small) and two rose leaf pieces. You should end up with 8 x 2-rose clusters and 2 x 3-rose clusters.

Much like how the wisteria pieces should look as if they are growing out of the brown surface crochet ‘vine’, the rose clusters should sit on the green surface crochet ‘vine’, so they look like they are growing from it. The roses can be placed in any orientation, but the leaves should always be positioned so that the round end sits on the green vine, while the pointed end points away from it.

Sewing on the Wisteria Pieces

Each wisteria piece should have two long, green ends left attached for sewing onto the blanket. One end will be at the base of the petals, while the other will be at the top of the petals (i.e. the base of the leaves). The end at the base of the petals will be used to attach the purple part of the wisteria to the blanket, while the other end will be used to secure the leaves. This will add an extra layer of security, while also giving you the freedom to position both the petals and the leaves however you would like.

Let’s start with attaching the petals. Each wisteria piece is sewn on individually, one at a time. I prefer to start with a long wisteria piece and create an organic shape with that, then move onto a shorter piece and ‘nestle’ it alongside the first piece. After both petal pieces are attached, I stitch down both of the leaves. We’ll be using a simple running stitch to stitch the central, green chain that runs through all of the petals to the blanket.

Thread the petal end onto your needle, then insert the needle through the blanket, from front to back, as pictured, where you want the bottom of your wisteria piece to sit.

Bring the needle back up in a slightly different spot, so that it comes through the green starting chain, close to the end.

Bring the needle back down to the other side of the blanket, bringing it back through the green starting chain, a little further along the wisteria piece.

Keep going, weaving the needle up and down through the blanket and the starting chain, until you come to the end of the petals. I prefer to wait until I’ve attached all the elements before weaving in the ends, just in case I want to change any positions, but you can sew them in whenever you want. For the neatest finish, I recommend bringing the end to the front of the work and darning it into the starting chain underneath the petals. This way, the petals will hide it from the front and the back will still look nice and neat.

Once you’ve sewn the first, long wisteria piece on, you can attach the second, shorter wisteria piece. The two pieces should sit snugly alongside each other, to give the illusion of a single, full wisteria bloom. Attach the second wisteria piece in exactly the same manner as the first, using a running stitch that is worked through the central green chain.

At this point, you should have one wisteria cluster with all the petals stitched down. Now, it’s time to attach the leaves. Attaching the leaves will add an extra layer of safety to the blanket and allows you to control how they sit.

I like to stitch the leaves down in a wide ‘v’ shape, so that the top of the wisteria petals sits within the leaves.

Use the same running stitch technique as the petal section for the leaves. When attaching the leaves, I like to run my stitches right down the centre of the leaf piece, so that the leaves on either side can still move and stand up, to make them look more natural.

Start by threading the end (the one from the base of the leaf piece/top of the petals) onto a needle, then pull the needle through to the back of the blanket, where you want the top of the leaf piece to sit.

Bring the needle back up through the blanket, coming up through the centre of the leaf piece, near the top edge.

Bring the needle back down, slightly further along the centre line of the leaf piece to make the next stitch.

Repeat this until you have stitched all the way down the centre of the leaf, stopping just before the end, so that the final little leaf is left free to curl up/move. When sewing in the end, I like to darn it into the leaf piece itself, again, to keep the back of the blanket looking tidy.

Repeat this process for both leaves, then you’ll have your first, completely attached, wisteria cluster! Repeat for all ten of the clusters, aiming to keep the shapes of the petals and leaves as organic and natural-looking as you can.

Sewing on the Rose Leaves

The technique for attaching the rose leaves is exactly the same as for the wisteria leaves. The aim is to run a line of stitching down the very centre of the leaf, leaving the sides and pointed top free to give the leaf some dimension. The long end that we left on the leaf pieces should sit at the base of each leaf (i.e. the rounded end, not the pointy end). We’ll use this to attach the leaves to the blanket.

I like to sew the rose leaves on first, before the roses themselves, so that the roses can overlap the leaf slightly- it just makes everything look a bit more natural.

Start by threading the end onto the needle, then bring it down through the blanket, from front to back, where you want the base of the leaf to sit (i.e. on the green surface crochet ‘vine’).

Come back up through the blanket, from back to front this time, a little bit further down the centre of the leaf, sticking to that centre line. Because of how we crocheted these leaves, it’s pretty easy to see where that centre line is, so use that as your guide.

Then, bring the needle back down through the centre of the leaf and the blanket beneath.

Keep bringing the needle up and down, through the work, until you come to just before the end of the leaf. Leaving the pointed end unattached will help the leaf to look more organic.

Now, you have an attached leaf! As before, I like to leave all the sewing in of ends until I’ve attached everything, but, when you do sew in the ends for the leaves, try to sew them into the leaves themselves, keeping the ends at the back of the leaves, if possible.

Sewing on the Roses

The roses are, unfortunately, the trickiest element to attach to the blanket, but, once you get the hang of it, it shouldn’t take too long to attach each one. Each rose piece should have one, long end for sewing in at the back. The aim is to use this end to work a running stitch all around the base of the rose, in a rough circle. This technique will provide the most strength and security.

Start by threading the end onto your needle, then bring the needle through to the back of the work, anchoring the rose wherever you want it to sit.

Next, bring the needle back up through the work, slightly further around the circumference of the rose, and catch a few stitches from the lower side of the rose as you do this.

Bring the needle back down through to the other side of the blanket, slightly further around the circumference of the rose again, catching a few more stitches from the lower side of the rose as you go.

Work all the way around the rose like this, running the stitches through both the blanket and the rose as you go, until you have stitched a wide circle all around the rose. The wider your circle of stitching, the more secure the rose will be. Don’t go too wide, though, or you’ll be able to see the stitches.

Ta-da! Now you have one attached rose!

Attach any other roses in the cluster in the exact same way, with the circle of stitching. However, when you come to the area where the new rose abuts the old rose, push your needle horizontally through the side of the first rose, as shown (you’re not going through the blanket itself at this stage, just the rose!).

Then do the same thing to the new rose, pushing the needle through horizontally, before continuing on your way around the rose, stitching it to the blanket again.

These two stitches just help to pull the roses together a little bit. This is optional, but will help to make the rose clusters look more organic and less like two separate roses, sitting near each other.

Now you’ll have a perfect little rose cluster! Repeat this process for all of the remaining clusters, then sew in all the ends (once you are happy with your finished blanket, of course!). As with the other elements, I recommend bringing the rose ends through to the front of the work and sewing them into the underside of the roses, for the neatest finish.

Final Thoughts

And… that’s it! Once everything’s sewn on, you’ll have your very own, Bridgerton House Baby Blanket ready to be used!

These instructions may seem a little overwhelming, but once you get into the swing of things, the sewing-up part of the process will go really quickly. Of course, you don’t have to follow my instructions- if you have a preferred method of sewing on embellishments, or just think of a better way to do it, you can absolutely go ahead and do that!

In other news…

Now that this pattern is finally complete, I’ve put it on Ravelry! You can find it here (and you can check out some of my other designs here, if you’re interested!).

I’ve had so much fun designing and developing this pattern for you over the past couple of years- I’m so glad it’s finally yours in its entirety! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Gemma

xxx