Julie and the Cocoknits team are hopping into The Everlasting KAL our annual knit-a-long! For 2025 we're knitting a brand new pattern: Beatriz. You can follow along with Julie as she works on her Beatriz over the course of eight weeks. Between January 31 and March 28, we'll be posting updates and behind-the-scenes glimpses of her progress, with a few tips and tricks along the way.
Want to knit along with us? Sign up here!
Prep Week
During a Terroir Retreat in Portugal, Julie fell in love with Rosa Pomar Beiroa. Having already knit two Beatriz cardigans with Beiroa (a chocolate brown and sage green), she couldn’t resist a third in the oatmeally 401 Undyed White color. She assembled all her tools and filled up her Project Wallet. Since she’d already swatched and knit Beatriz with this yarn before, she knew that she would reach gauge on US 8 (5 mm) needles and would love the fit of a size 4.
TIP: Can’t decide on a size? Sweater fit is a very personal thing, so “recommended ease” in patterns isn’t always helpful. We recommend measuring things from your closet that you already love to wear! Watch our tutorial for tips: How to Measure Garments to Get Preferred Pattern Size. You can see how Julie determined the size for her Beatriz here.
Resources & Tutorials:
Sections I-III
Since Julie’s personal knitting tension often results in “rowing out” (her WS purl rows are looser than her RS knit rows), she knits flat stockinette with two different size needles: US 8/5 mm for the knit rows, and US 7/4.5 mm for the purl rows. In Section I, she worked the Cable Increases as instructed in the pattern, and knit Sections II & III without any modifications. Now her color-coordinated stitch markers are in place, and she’s ready for the Worksheet!
TIP: Want to knit Cable Increases without a cable needle? Since these little shoulder cables are small (2x2 twists), it’s easy to work them without a cable needle by pre-twisting the four stitches. You can see this demonstrated here, as well as in our tutorial How to Knit a Cable Increase (around 2:18). You can also see how this is done for standard cables (without increases) here.
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Section IV: The Cocoknits Worksheet
Julie filled out and knit through her Cocoknits Sweater Worksheet without any modifications for her size. Once the yoke was finished, she tried it on for fit - you can watch her try-on here. Since Beatriz has an oversize drop-shoulder fit, you don’t have to worry about the precise tailoring as much. But trying it on at this point did reaffirm for Julie that she’s happy with pattern size 4!
TIP: Want help with the future button band? When you work the last row of your Worksheet, place an opening stitch marker at each end of the row. This will help orient you later on, when you are picking up stitches for the button band, by indicating where the neckline increases stop, and help you make sure you do not accidentally add a buttonhole past that point. You can see Julie explain this here.
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Sleeves & Body
Julie knit through the sleeves and body of her Beatriz cardigan without any modifications. All that stockinette flew right by with a little help from her current favorite TV show, Bad Sisters! After finishing the cuff and hem ribbing with Jeny’s Stretch Bind-Off, she’s now ready to move onto the button band and the rest of the Finishing section.
TIP: Want an alternative to ssk? Generally speaking, ssk never looks quite as tidy as k2tog. There are alternatives to this left-leaning decrease that may work better for you! Julie likes to modify her ssk’s like this, but you can see other options in our tutorial How to Work an Alternative to SSK.
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Finishing & Blocking
Julie picked up and knit the button band, marking button placement with Split Ring Markers on the left side so they would line up with the buttonholes on the right side. To add a tiny bit of stretch around the neckline, she bound off the button band with a Modified Lori’s Twisty Bind-Off rather than binding off in pattern (as written).
She then worked in the yarn ends, seamed the underarms, and wet blocked the sweater - click here to see the drying rack pulley system she rigged up in her Oakland studio! Once the cardigan was nice and dry, she sewed on her 1” (2.5 cm) horn buttons with naturally-dyed pink sashiko thread.
And just like that, Julie’s Beatriz is all finished! Thank you for following along with our 2025 KAL. If you want more helpful resources to make your own Beatriz - or any other Cocoknits Method pattern - sign up for our Everlasting KAL or check out our On Demand Classes.
TIP: Buttonholes too big? The Beatriz pattern has you work a Yarn Over for the buttonhole, which can accommodate a larger button (1" / 2.5 cm) or toggle. But if you wanted to use smaller buttons, or simply want your buttonholes a bit smaller, instead of Yarn Over you can 1.) Backwards Loop Cast On, or 2.) purl into the next stitch and then, on the next row, pick up the bar between these two stitches. Watch Julie explain here.
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Comments
Hooray and thank you! I’ve persevered and found my way through so much great information! I’ve separated Beatriz for sleeves and I’m working the body length now!
Hi Marci,
The picture you shared on Ravelry looks like you’ve completed your Sections 1-3. To get all the information in one place, sign up for the free Everlasting KAL On Demand class under the KAL menu above. We’re looking forward to seeing your progress in Ravelry.
I am so confused! I’ve started the Beatrix cardigan. I thought I signed up to knit along with Julie and get videos etc. I’ve managed to find some videos but I’m stuck inspection 3 instructions and would love to just see it worked up… not sure what I’m aiming for in this section? Join and create sleeves? Oh my the navigating has been a challenge. Hopefully you can open my eyes to where, easily to get help. Ive recently abandoned social media so relying on website only. I’m pretty sure I signed up because I’m getting the weekly emails
Hi Kim, Yes, Beatriz is a Cocoknits Method pattern, knit from the top down. For more information about the Cocoknits Method, before Beatriz is released, check out the “Everlasting KAL” page, as well as “Cocoknits Method” under the Learn drop-down menu. Hope you’ll join us as we knit along!
hi. Is this a top down knitting project? Thanks.
Thanks Sandra! The Beatriz Pattern gauge is 4 sts per 1" / 2.5 cm. We’ll add it to the page.
Hi Carla, Glad you will be joining us! The Rosa Pomar Beiroa yarn that Julie used in her sweaters is considered an aran weight yarn. The ball band lists it as 18-20 sts per 4" / 10 cm, but Julie liked the fabric she got knitting it at 16 sts per 4" / 10 cm. She often knits yarn more loosely than the ball band suggests. You will want to find the fabric you like for your Beatriz, and we suggest you try an aran weight yarn. Check out some of our Knit-a-Long resources and other tutorials for help. Once you find the fabric you like, you can adjust the pattern to work with your perfect gauge. We are happy to help—feel free to email us at knit@cocoknits.com with questions as well as to share your progress and/or questions on our social media and in our forum on Ravelry.
Love this! When it says “any yarn that gets gauge”, what gauge are we aiming for? Thanks!
I would love to try this one. I finished my Ruth relatively successfully but for my yarn choice. The information mentions Aran weight but the yarn mentioned indicates DK with a gauge of 18-20 over 4 but the description doesn’t actually mention gauge. Could you offer any information about this?
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