Finished on July 8th, 2025. This sweater is so lovely! I followed The Adorable Grace Sweater Pattern by Dorothy Offeciers of Adorable Knits. It’s a top-down raglan sweater with a folded over collar, short row shaping, and balloon sleeves.
I knitted this sweater with Eddie Bauer Wool-Paca (80% extra fine merino superwash, 20% alpaca – DK weight) in Blue Spruce held together with Plymouth Yarn Suri Stratus (68% suri alpaca, 32% nylon – lace weight) in Mint.
I really enjoyed 99% of the process of knitting this sweater. That 1% is reserved for the tricky process of learning how to do an Italian bind-off and attempting to modify the pattern because of that. Had I known how to do an Italian bind off and followed the pattern completely, 100% of the process would have been enjoyable.
Long story short, I first knitted the hem several inches shorter than the pattern called for and bound off with a stretchy bind off meant for stockinette fabric. It made the hem very wavy (like a lettuce hem) and I hated it. I had tried Italian bind off first, but I didn’t get very far because the suri was so sticky and tangled while pulling it through with the main yarn.
Out of frustration, I put the sweater in time out for about 3 months. When I picked it up, I knitted one sleeve, dropped the suri strand after the last row, and bound off using the Italian bind off with just the main yarn. That solved my problem, and the cuff was beautiful. To learn the Italian bind off, I followed this video tutorial by PetiteKnit.
I then ripped out my hem bind off, knitted the 1×1 rib section to pattern specifications, and bound of using the Italian bind off with just the main yarn. It looked great, so I finished the other sleeve and blocked!
The Italian bind off was tricky for this sweater because of that second strand of suri alpaca. If you are knitting a sweater with a strand of suri or another fuzzy lace-weight yarn, I recommend dropping it before you begin your bind off. You can’t really tell that it isn’t there, and the bind of process is so much easier.
Overall, I love this pattern. Dorothy from Adorable Knits is an incredible pattern writer. If I could start my knitting journey over again, this is the first sweater pattern I would knit. I think The Grace Sweater is perfect for beginners because it is extremely descriptive; Dorothy walks you through every step. If you are an advanced knitter who doesn’t like reading super in-depth patterns, this one may not be for you.
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