Piratess
Pattern: Contiguous Stripes by Isabell Kraemer (forthcoming)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Sport in 8401 and 8885 (and a bit of Cascade Alpaca Lana D'Oro in 1086)
Needles: US 8 and 7
Project Page
March is sneaking up on me a bit, so I made a mad rush to finish this this last week. I ran out of the grey Sport and went to pick some up at work last night, but, despite having received a new shipment of it at the beginning of the week, there was no more light grey! The Alpaca Lana D'Oro hangs above the Sport, though, so I compared color and weight and decided it would work fine. It did. I only used it for 2 and a half sleeve stripes. You can't tell the difference unless you are looking for it with a magnifying glass.
The pattern is magnificent! I was testing it for Isabell (lilalu on Ravelry) and I feel bad I don't have suggestions for her on how to improve it! It was an honor to knit for her, honestly. She was one of my first Ravelry friends that I didn't actually know in person. I just noticed that I loved everything she knit and we have entirely the same tastes in patterns. She does great modifications too. I borrowed some once. :)
Anything I dislike about the finished object is my own fault. I think I knit the armholes a bit too big, so it fits funny around the bust and under the arms and the fabric is kind of stiff, on top of that. I haven't blocked it (I literally finished it less than 2 hours ago), so I'm hoping that will fix most of my issues with the fabric. If the arm-holes prove too maddening, I'll redo the sleeves without picking up underarm stitches. That should fix them.
The other thing I dislike is the way I wove the ends in as I was knitting. I always do it the same way and it typically works okay, but it distorts the stripes just a bit on this sweater. I'll just have to undo the ends and weave them in the right way. The spots on the arms where I did it aren't quite so bad, so it's just the fronts. Not too many ends.I really enjoyed doing the contiguous set-in sleeve. It was nice to try a new technique! It doesn't offer the garment much support, but, as my friend pointed out to me tonight, doing a crochet chain in the spots where the seams should be would help quite a lot. I recommend this pattern, so keep an eye out for it!
I named it for my favorite band Okkervil River's song "Piratess," but only because the first few lyrics mention lines. And of course I love the song! :D
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I can see why you might not like how the arm holes turned out, but honestly, from what I see in the picture they look perfect (match the feel of the rest of the sweater). However, you are a much better judge of fashion than I am. : P
ReplyDeleteThey do match the feel of the sweater, for sure. If blocking it fixes the drape, then I'm sure I'll feel much better about them. :) And, if the last nineteen days have taught me anything, it's that my judgment of fashion is not as great as I thought it was, so I love advice! ;)
DeleteIt looks very warm and cozy. I love Lana D'Oro! Have a stash of deep red violet just waiting to become something.
ReplyDeleteA whole sweater out of it would be DIVINE! I'm going to use the rest of the skein (which is quite a lot, actually) to make John some super soft gloves. :)
DeleteWow, what a great, comfy looking sweater! And I don't notice any weirdness to the stripes... think it's one of those things that only you will ever notice :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks! You're probably right. Some tugging and pulling has helped a bit. :)
DeleteIt looks great! Can't tell that you had some issues with the underarms.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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