Previously on #SustainablistDesignVote: starting at the very beginning of the designing process, you helped us make some of the most important decisions: selecting a type of garment (you voted for a cardigan!), an inspiration story that we’re aiming to tell with the design, construction details (you went for a top-down raglan construction!), then the final design and last week a yarn base, Blacker Yarns’ Mohair Blends 4ply. Now before I tell you about our last voting, can I just say how much I enjoyed teaming up with you to create this new cardigan design? I’ve been wanting to do more community oriented projects for the longest time, and #SustainablistDesignVote has been an absolutely wonderful experience. I’m looking forward to sharing more insights into the next steps we’ll be taking with this design here soon, and if this is something you’d be interested in, I think I’d love to make #SustainablistDesignVote a regular thing! Please feel free to tell me in the comments if this is something you’d like to participate in again, and I’ll set up a query for more detailed feedback soon, too.

Now before we get into the yarny details, let me introduce you to the final design you picked! Here’s what I had in mind when coming up with the design idea: “This cardigan is meant to be the epitome of comfort. Allover brioche or fisherman's rib makes for the squishiest fabric, adorned with a diagonal detail that travels from the raglan line towards the sides of the fronts. Subtle balloon sleeves add to the cardigan's modern feel and cosy factor. As for construction, you begin with the back neckband, then pick up stitches for the body and continue to work body, sleeves and neckband in one piece until you divide body and sleeves at the underam. Once you completed the body, you'll only have to work the sleeves in the round to the cuffs - no seaming, no attached neckband! If you haven't tried brioche just yet, this would be an excellent first project. Knit up during the colder months, infused with dear memories, this design will be perfect to cuddle up in at home and for everyday outfits just as it'll work beautifully with for a night out and special occasions.”

Last week's #SustainablistDesignVote was centred around body and sleeve construction, and with a whopping 47.5% you decided on a top-down raglan cardigan. Over the last couple of days, we had a few additional polls on Instagram where you voted for a V-neck button-down option. So that's what my design ideas, inspired by the story you chose in our second voting, are based on! This is a step of the process that usually only very few people – our team and the yarn companies we team up with – see, so I'm super happy to be able to share about it with you today!

Many knitters have an opinion on what construction details they like, and today you get to share yours! Now before we get started, just a brief recap: last week's #SustainablistDesignVote was all about inspiration, and with almost exactly a third of all votes, you chose the New Year's Eve story for me to use for our cardigan design!

"What's the inspiration for this design?" has to be one of the most popular knitwear design related questions people ask me. And I totally get it, the stories behind the "things" in our lives is something I'm always interested in, too! Now what all Sustainablist designs (and everything else we do, for that matter) have in common is that they're inspired by the idea of a mindful, sustainable approach to everyday life as well as to our clothes. For me, this also means that I don't deliberately aim to follow trends when designing, though that being said, of course the time we live in and what we see around us on the street and online will probably always have some sort of influence. Many of our designs have another layer of meaning to them, some from personal stories, memories and bits and pieces of our own life, others from impulses I come accross. For me, often it's something visual; something I saw out in nature, on a photo or in the city. But inspiration can come in so many other ways, too, like from a poem or thought piece, a conversation I had with a loved one or a feeling I'd love to capture.

This first voting is all about determining what type of garment or accessory you like best! This design will be available (at 50% off for everyone who participates in #SustainablistDesignVote, by the way!) this winter, so consider what you'd want to knit in a few months. We'll get to details such as top-down vs. bottom-up for sweaters, shawl shapes and all that jazz a little later, so for now we'll start with something easy and determine a type of design. This is the one decision I usually make first whenever I start working on a design, unless I'm sold on another detail such as a specific stitch pattern already. Is it gonna be a pullover, hat, shawl or cardigan? I'm so excited to see what you'll end up choosing!