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Knitting Stories
A Toast to the Autumn
We’re not yet cold enough to call it chilly, but the 8am nip in the air is real. It’s usually gone by midday, but at least the early sunsets are on board so the vibe of a turning season is there, even if the temperature hasn’t quite come to join in yet. Whatever the case, if this is what we’re calling autumn now, I’ll take it.
.. But more than any of that. The Toast chat is back. No, not the stuff that you have with a cuppa in the morning. This is about the sweaters that everyone wants to talk about with us in the shop. Yes, that Toast. The one that makes the knitwear that you’d like to be able to knit yourself – for all the reasons.
I know, I know. We’ve been here before but it seems like however much you filled up on last time, there’s still an appetite for more. So Susan, Brontë and I have been on a no-stone-unturned hunt to find the hand-knitting patterns that will get you and your needles to Toast’s AW2026 knitwear collection only a little bit slower than a bus ride to Islington. Plus they’ll deliver the added joy of being made by you in the colours and yarns you like the best.
(For those who missed the other round ups, you can find them here: Sweaters on Toast, Another Round of Toast?)
Toast’s Orla Donegal Wool Sweater
Freckle Sweater byDuck Duck Knits
Surely the Toastiest of all Toast sweaters, it comes back every winter and even has a summer version. We’ve done pretty well in the past with finding Orla’s cousins in HK’s Space Time 18 and KPG’s Marlow Sweater, but we think we may have found her almost-identical twin this time with DDK’s Freckle. It’s got the curly edge thing, the a-line body thing and the worsted-aran gauge means you can jump right in with the SD Soft Donegal, DN Gilliatt or WD Mota and make it in whichever colour you like.
Toast’s Eden Wool Cashmere Raglan Cardigan
Yes, the neckline isn’t an exact match but we’re pretty much there with the rest of the details, plus you’ve almost certainly got a folded neckline you can borrow from another cardie pattern. And if you haven’t, here’s Unwind’s video to show you how. And you might find if you look closely that you like the August one better anyway. See what I mean?
We’re in warm worsted land with the August so sticking with the BF Sheepsoft Aran, SD Soft Donegal, DN Gilliatt or the WD Mota
Toast’s Donegal Wool V-Neck Cardigan
Champagne Cardigan by PetiteKnit
There’s something about the double-knit button band on PK’s Champagne that gives it what Brontë calls a ‘polished’ finish. It’s also why I decided to give PK the benefit of the doubt here when sifting throught the other 637 plain v-necks on Ravelry. Granted, her rib is not doing the curly thing that the Toast one does. But if that’s what’s putting you off, you can get there with about 4 rounds of stocking stitch at the bottom of the rib.
PK’s doing her’s in her classic double stranded mohair plus DK to get the worsted gauge. If you want to go that way then take any of BF Sheepsoft DK, SC Pure Wool Natural or RP’s Brusca, and couple it with you choice of shades from the Gepard Kid Seta.
Toast’s Fine Wool Cashmere Half Sleeve Sweater
There’s something about the swing of the Laakso which echoes the vibe of Toast’s Half Sleeve. Identical they are not, but give the Laakso a few minutes to percolate and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The bracelet length sleeves are there for the taking if you want them, and given that the neckline is the very last thing you address on the Laakso, you can always go more Toastish and just pick up and knit a turtleneck if you’re not feeling that floppy collar.
It looks so lovely in the recommended yarn, I can’t look left or right of the Fonty Saperlipopette, but if you’re more of a smooth than fluffy knitter, then the Kinross would be a perfect substitute for the gauge.
There’s a sense with this sweater searching task, that our’s is less a journey to find a look-a-like for the Toast sweater, and more an effort to retrace the steps we imagine the Toast designers took from the original hand knitted sweaters which inspired them. And in RH’s Roamer, it feels like we’ve found all the very best elements of the iconic cabled sweater. Rich with detail but also thoughtfully balanced, and happily part of a collection which is full to bursting with other patterns worth a second look. RH has done this one in Gilliatt. If you want the look of the Toast alternative, pick a shade from the Soft Donegal or the Darnie – it’s exactly half the thickness of its thicker sibling, so it’s always an option to double strand that one instead.
Toast’s Stripe Wool Cashmere Fingerless Gloves
Bridge Arm Warmers by Kukiko Inoue
I’ve steered things in a bigger gauge direction here – partly in the something-for-everyone spirit of Wild and Woolly, but also because I think that having a nice chunky knit arm warmer pattern up your sleeve is likely to reap rewards as we get closer to the end of December deadline. But if you’ve really set your heart on the fine-knit look of the Toast ones, you can easily get there with Valerie Johnson’s Cameron. But back to our chunky Bridge Arm Warmer friends.. The warm fuzz in the picture is definitely saying Puno to me. But if you’d rather go smooth, I’d plump for the Malabrigo Chunky or RP’s Zagal.
Toast’s Grid Stitch Knitted Wool Bandana
Saoire Shawl by Ailbíona McLochlainn
It’s just knits and purls but when they come together with this much thought, there’s nothing ‘just..’ about it. The Saoire is a simple and beautiful celebration of the texture of our foundational stitches. The consequence is a bandana or shawl (you decide on the size), which will chime in with whichever yarn you choose to make it with – which really comes back to what this whole Toast Post is trying to get at – not that we should all be trying to copy machine-made knitwear by hand – but that as knitters, we’ve got the skills to make this knitwear ourselves our way. The Toast one is nice. Very nice. But with AM’s pattern in your hands, you can really make it yours.
I’ve been struggling to see past JA’s Harvest Hues, since a much-l0ved customer came in recently with her finished Saoire in the Burdock shade, but the Donegal Darnie, J&S 4ply, Birlinn or Ulysse would all be super alternatives. AM gives a gauge and needle size for a DK, but as this is a shawl I think we can be a bit flexible here. My suggestion is choose your yarn and an appropriate needle size for it, and then just follow the stitch pattern.
Toast’s Ribbed Wool Cashmere Poncho
Simple Ribbed Shrug by Purl Soho
More than a neck, less than a body, and without any sleeve-island jeopardy, the poncho is a great stepping-stone to sweater knitting, or short-cut for realistic gift knitting this Christmas. I’m tempted to say that the PH Ribbed Shrug nails all the best details of the Toast Poncho, but the Toast one has the edge yarn-wise, largely because PH have chosen a disappointingly plain wool cotton. If poncho means cosy and warm, it has to be a woollier route with something like the BF Sheepsoft DK or the Uist DK, you’ll be home, dry and nicely toasty.