I’ve been admiring the Kit Couture kits for quite some time now and finally decided to treat myself to a kit for Christmas this year! I picked the Stjernøya Slipover partly because I loved the sewing but also partly because it’s a smaller project than going for a full sweater straight off the bat. That had the added benefit of being a simpler and quicker project, as well as being cheaper!

I got the kit at the beginning of January and it took about 6 weeks to finish – much faster than I had anticipated. I just really enjoyed this knit and that helped it go faster!

The Stjernøya Slipover is a simple knitted vest with a funky fair isle colour worked middle section, finished with a twisted rib. I’d been itching to try out stranded colourwork for some time now so this was my project to do so!

The fair isle technique of carrying the coloured strands across the back of the work until needed was an odd one to get used to. Having just learnt to knit continental with the yarn in my left hand was so so useful in making this as easy as possible. I kept the dominant colour yarn in my left hand (the green) and background colour in my right – apparently this make the dominant colour “pop” against the background. Switching between using the left and right hand for each stitch seemed completely natural somehow!

The colourwork and stitch counting for the pattern was as difficult as this project got as it’s otherwise knit in a simple stocking stitch which meant I could just get on with the knit without worrying too much!

I made a size M and altered the pattern just slightly to make it more suitable for my narrow shoulders. I continued the decreases for a further 3 stitches in each side of the shoulder and then reduced the cast off neckline edge by 6 in total for the front and 6 for the back. This gave me a narrower fit in the shoulder and narrower neckline opening but kept the same width of the shoulder straps themselves.

I knitted this on 3mm needles as instructed and found the gauge to be correct for me.

I have so much love for this slipover! I made this white shirt specifically to wear with it too – it’s my second version of the Anna Allen Anthea blouse in a white tencel twill from The New Craft House that I got a pre Covid. It’s quite a thick/ stiff fabric so it really hold the puff!

I’m so pleased I’ve got this new skill in my wheelhouse as I feel like it’s opened up a whole new world of knitting!