I’m absolutely delighted to say that my newest pattern, the Libby Slipover, is now available!

This began as a bit of a request from the wonderful Jess at Loom Wool – her sister requested a crochet vest and I’d already been thinking of something that tied at the sides, so Libby manifested very quickly. Jess very kindly gave me the yarn to design this in, her DK merino in the colourway Sorrel. I picked the colour specifically as I already had some of the styling in mind. I imagined this as a bit of an academia vibe, thinking of someone studying at long wooden tables in an old stone library filled with leather-bound tomes. If I knew of anywhere like that, you can bet I’d have taken the photos there!

When it comes to my pattern designing, texture often plays a huge part in the process. For this pattern, I used a linked treble crochet stitch (UK term, this would be linked double in US terms) which provided a much more solid fabric than traditional trebles. It feels a lot more like a closed fabric rather than including the significant gaps that might usually be found between treble stitches, and for something that I would like to be functionally warm, this was an important feature for me.

She also includes short rows, and is my first crochet pattern to do so. I won’t tell you how many screwed up sketches ended up in the bin to try and make this as easy as possible for the people creating the slipover! Short rows are definitely not just for knitters, and in the first draft of Libby I tried going without to see how essential they were. The answer was that they were certainly needed, and without them there was a bubble just behind the shoulder blade. The short rows allowed for more space in the shoulder area closest to the neck, and this eliminated the weird bubble at the back. 

As the finishing touch, I added a picot edging to the hems and to the neckline. There are alternative instructions for anyone who would prefer not to include this, but I just love how it finishes the garment and adds a slightly dainty touch.

Libby is available now, in both UK and US crochet terminology (for which I am eternally grateful to my US translator!), and you’ll find a roundup below of photos from my wonderful testing group! I hope the world likes Libby as much as I do.