Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Climbing Vines Pullover

Why is it that you want things you can't have, but if you think about them long enough, it somehow happens? The stars were in alignment when I came across this pattern in the Winter 2008 Interweave Knits - for the longest time, I had wanted a similar version of this sweater I saw by Phildar. Their version is in French, and I tried to buy it through the link they posted without much luck. Plus, my French is pretty lousy, so even if I somehow managed to obtain the pattern, I probably wouldn't be able to figure it out! So lucky for me that they came out with something comparable. The finished product you see is actually my second attempt at this sweater using Beaverslide worsted weight yarn that is a blend of merino and mohair. My first sweater I had to frog; it was also through Beaverslide, and it was also worsted weight, but made entirely of wool. Because the fiber wasn't as soft, I couldn't get a small gauge, and my sweater came out big, too big to block into submission, unfortunately. It did give me an opportunity to practice the vine pattern however, so I'm not too upset about it. (The frogged yarn is now in the process of being made into the Shalom Cardigan, as the project requires a big gauge.) The biggest challenge for this project was that the length of the sweater is pretty much decided for you, because you had to stop the pattern repeat in a certain place in order to make the neckline. My sweater came out a little shorter than I had wanted; if I were to make the pattern again, I would do a provisional cast-on for the bottom, so that I could have the option of adding on more length later. I also did garter stitch across the entire front, and I also made the neckline higher and not so wide. I avoided seaming like I usually do by doing a three needle bind off for the shoulders, then picked up stitches and did short-rows for the sleeves. I left the sleeve bottoms unfinished by not doing the ribbing - I am still not sure how I feel about that yet, so it may be altered later. I kind of like the rolled-edge look, but since it's not rolled in any other place, I don't know if it works...

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