Faded Mist Topper Cardi – Fall/Winter Style Guide

Behind The Scenes

 

UPDATE: Kit is available here!

As many of you know, over the last many months I’ve had the honor of collaborating with Lion Brand on various projects for my blog and have even gotten to work on several of their kits.  And while I’ve had the incredible privilege of working with them on several patterns, I was absolutely humbled and honored when they contacted me to create a project (The Faded Mist Topper) for their new Fall/Winter Style Guide. This project was something new to me as I would be collaborating with their design team to come up with a pattern rather than going it alone like I normally do.  What a dream come true! It’s certainly something I never would have imagined just a couple of years ago when I began to blog about my projects!  This is a Lion Brand exclusive pattern, so you won’t find it for free here on the blog as usual but I sure hope you enjoy reading a bit about the design process (and you know I have a ton of freebies in the works – hehe! )

Above: I love the neutral color tones and the blending of the cream and grey. Reminds me of a misty day.

Today, I thought I’d share with you a bit about the design process and how this pretty topper cardigan was created! A few of you have mentioned you’d like a behind the scenes blog post so here goes.  🙂

To start, I was paired with Susan Haviland from the Lion Brand design team and was given a basic pattern idea which was a short sleeved cardigan that included colorwork around the lower section.  The piece would be a versatile layer that could be worn with your work outfit or even your most casual jeans.  If you follow my blog, you may already know that I focus on very easy and doable patterns, so minimal shaping and simple stitch work was a must on my end. At the same time, the piece needed to be more tailored than many of my past projects.  Susan said that we would be sticking with neutral color tones, which was a thrill because that’s what I enjoy using most.

Above: Rough swatches that I created for the project when deciding on possible yarns and stitches

As we delved further into the design process, we tossed around some ideas for yarn possibilities that we could use.  We were considering several, from Woolspun to New Basic and even Scarfie.  Some of my favorites! Susan sent me various skeins of yarn to create swatches in order to determine what stitch patterns we liked and which colors worked well together.  Ultimately we decided on a simple crochet stitch pattern and Lion Brand Scarfie yarn.  I’m no stranger to using Scarfie on large projects as I’ve used it with both my Driftwood Crochet Hooded Poncho and my Light Frost Blanket Sweater. However, we did decide that very subtle vertical striping would be best while I had most often made pieces with horizontal striping. There would also need to be some sort of contrast on the bottom to replace the complicated colorwork that our inspiration pattern had.  Because we wanted subtle vertical striping on top, this meant we needed to design the upper portion in a way that allowed for more of an ombre effect.  After some trial and error, I was able to work out how to create this light ombre look on top with contrast striping along the bottom.  I also really love how the stitch work almost appears to be knit yet it’s super simple!

Above: Work in progress.  I think the contrasting lower section adds a lot of interest to this topper.

The piece can certainly go with your button-up work blouse and tailored pants or your most relaxed jeans and t-shirt.  I really love how the colors blend in this topper as well as the fact that it’s easy to make (yet there’s more to it than making a rectangle which you fold and seam like many of my blanket sweaters!).  I think it certainly turned out to be a cozy, versatile piece thanks to the neutral grey and cream as well as the simple style.

 

It was such a joy to work with Lion Brand and Susan on this piece and I truly hope you enjoy it. I’ve been so excited to see the entire collection including the pieces from Two Of Wands.  When I finally saw all of the pieces this morning it was a “HOLY MOLY” moment; I am so impressed with every project!  I also love that they styled this Faded Mist Topper with a variety of ladies to show that this piece is for ANYONE.  Definitely check out the collection entire Fall Winter Guide & Collection as well as my Faded Mist Topper as it’s currently 20% off for this week only.  Lion Brand is also hosting a KAL and CAL over on Ravelry and you can check it out and follow along in their Ravelry group HERE!

It’s so fun to see something I made being photographed on someone OTHER than myself. Haha! I love how they show that anyone can rock this piece. It also looks completely adorable on a pregnant gal on their website!

And look at this beauty designed by Two Of Wands!

Thanks SO MUCH to each of you who have followed my blog and enjoyed my designs so that I could be involved in creating something for this beautiful collection!

XO,

Jessica

 

This project was sponsored by Lion Brand Yarn. All opinions are 100% my own.

Similar Posts

23 Comments

  1. Jessica,

    I love this topper but it is crochet. Now I can crochet but just no longer enjoy crochet. I love all the different directions the crochet goes. This has a lot of possibilities for a knitted version!

    Could you possibly create a knitted version?

    I made your knit blanket sweater and I love it!

    Thank you for considering my request!

    Sincerely,
    Barbara Peters

    1. Hi Barbara!
      I’m so glad that you enjoyed the knit blanket sweater! I’m not sure if I’ll get around to a knit version of this Topper but I always keep requests in mind. Thanks for letting me know!

    2. Hi, Barbara-I’m Jae-I saw your comment and am looking for fellow knitters to just share with-Are you on FB? (I hope this is ok to ask)

      1. JAE,
        I apologize for not answering this sooner. I never thought to come back and look at the comments here even though I had asked Jessica a question about the topper! I am wanting to make this topper and came to Jessica’s site to see if the pattern is available. As I was scrolling down, I noticed your question to me. Yes, I am willing to talk with you about knitting. I have a fb account but I am rarely on fb. Here is one of my email accounts that you may respond to me. abbykings.mail@gmail.com.
        I look forward to hearing from you, JAE!

  2. I love the look of this, it is pretty…love the colors. Can we not just buy the pattern?

  3. Jessica!!

    Congratulations!! You continue to amaze me. I seriously do not know how in the world you get all of this done. You’re incredible and so inspiring.

    1. Hey sweet Patty! After my daughter, yarn is no doubt ruling my world these days! But the feeling is mutual – you amaze me and are so inspiring my friend.

    1. Hey Ashlyn! As far as I know it’s only going to be available with the kit from Lion Brand.

  4. Lion Brand has some absolutely wonderful and beautiful items – I just wish that they would have more of them available as something other than only as kits. It would make it much easier for some of us. Maybe have an option for pattern OR kit? Just a thought.

  5. You have a tag on this “free crochet pattern”. As it’s not free can you remove the tagging so when we look up your free patterns using your menu it does not show up.

    1. Hi Martha,
      I totally understand and would do that if I had another place to put it! Haha! Out of the hundreds of patterns I’ve done, this is the only one that isn’t free. I really don’t have another place on my blog to feature it until I reconfigure my menu. I will plan to do that at some point and put it in a more appropriate location. However, some folks are interested in it and if it’s not in Free Patterns menu, it won’t be found at all. Thanks for reaching out!

  6. I have the yarn all ready for the pattern, any idea how long it will be, I need to make this for a Christmas gift.

Comments are closed.