Sweater Week: Hakone and Bridgefield

Today in Sweater Week news, I get to share the results of a partnership with one of my favorite yarnies: Spirit Trail Fiberworks. I don’t remember exactly when I was introduced to Jennifer’s yarns (maybe a sock exchange in 2006?), but I’ve been an avid fan ever since.

And above all other bases, I love her wool, cashmere, and silk blends. She’s got them in a variety of weights – I worked my design Alta in her Birte – and I aspire to a laceweight sweater some day too.

But for this fall season, I decided to design sweaters both in the fingering-weight Sunna and the worsted-weight Verdande. Fingering weight yarns and worsted weight yarns both make fantastic sweaters, but the different weights do encourage different things in the design process. Unsurprisingly, I wound up with two very different sweaters at the end!

I love them both, though. And I’m very pleased to share both Hakone, and Bridgefield, with you for today’s installment of Sweater Week.


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Here’s a little bit about each sweater:

Hakone is the kind of design that cries out for a lightweight yarn: whispery but warm, elegant but relaxed, and as at home with jeans as something fancier.

It’s largely Stockinette, which lets the yarn shine through, with just a couple of key details. The 3/4 sleeves are worked straight with a bit of a notch, and the edges are trimmed in 3×2 ribbing. The worn-open style and mid-hip length are easygoing and comfortable.

Hakone is currently available only through CustomFit: you can create your own here.


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Bridgefield celebrates the best part of worsted-weight sweaters: this pullover is cozy and warm, almost sumptuous. It begs to be snuggled on a crisp fall day and looks equally great over a tank or a button-down.

The scale of worsted-weight yarn shows texture beautifully, and keeping the texture on the front of the sweater only prevents the garment from feeling heavy or bulky. As written, Bridgefield has a mid-hip length and long sleeves.

Bridgefield is also currently available only through CustomFit; you can get started here.


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And the even better news about Hakone and Bridgefield is that now, for all sweaters that are built into CustomFit you can change the sleeve and sweater lengths to suit your preference. This has been a long time coming, and we’re so excited about it.

Finally, let’s talk yarn. Anyone who has listened to me talk in person has heard me extoll the virtues of a wool/silk blend – the drape! the shine! the memory! – and the blend that Spirit Trail Fiberworks uses for their Nona, Sunna, Birte, and Verdande yarns is a particularly nice one. The Bombyx silk gives the yarns a gorgeous drape and sheen, the cashmere gives softness and an ever-so-subtle halo, and the merino blends it all together into one glorious package. If you’re going to be at Rhinebeck this weekend, or even if you aren’t, I urge you to give it a try.

3 thoughts on “Sweater Week: Hakone and Bridgefield

  1. Oh yay, the lengths thing is deployed already! 😀

  2. Jen’s yarns are downright heavenly, aren’t they!

    I have a question: Does Custom Fit allow me to change the neckline shape? V-necks don’t work well on me, but the sweater is gorgeous.

  3. Since I’ll have to order the yarn for Hakone, can you give me a ballpark yardage estimate? I know I can’t get a real one until I swatch, but I need to order the yarn to do it! 36″ bust, 40″ hips, relaxed fit, and maybe a touch longer sleeves. The yarn is 350 yds per skein, and the color I want has 6 available. I probably don’t need 6.

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