Category: sweaters

  • aguas sweater, part 2 – swatchy swatchy!

    So. Next step after the idea is the yarn! Sometimes these steps are switched; I’ll have a yarn and need to come up with an idea for it. For this sweater though, the idea definitely came first.

    Malabrigo Sock in Aguas –

    malabrigo sock

    This yarn is 100% superwash wool (my fav), dyed with an all-over mix of blues/greens/turquoises. Some of the colours of Malabrigo are much ‘splotchier’, with distinct bands of each colour – I didn’t want something like that, because in my opinion it can really detract from the shape and stitch pattern of the sweater. All you end up seeing is the crazy colours (which is good in small doses!).

    The yarn is 440 yards per 100g skein, very generous. I have four, for a total of 1760 yards. Should be more than enough, especially with shorter sleeves. I do tend to buy my yarn in sweater amounts, because really, my first love is knitting sweaters.

    Next up – swatches.

    rejected

    This is the “knit-only rib” from Reversible Knitting on 3.75mm needles. I love the swatch in the book, and it’s a fun stitch pattern with just a two-stitch, two-row repeat. Reversible, of course, so that would work for the drapey front bits. (Please excuse the fact that the colours in these two photos don’t really match. It’s a tough colour to capture!)

    However, as I got further into the swatch it became pretty obvious that this stitch pattern biases quite a bit. Because it’s garter stitch based, it’s also not as open of a stitch pattern as I was envisioning for this sweater. The biasing improved a bit with blocking (the swatch above has in fact been wet blocked) but it was irritating to knit it. Since this sweater is knit from side to side, it would also have been a bit of a problem to get the pieces to fit together properly!

  • aguas sweater, part 1

    I’m busy busy finishing up a big Secret Project, but of course since that’s nearing completion I’m thinking ahead to the next thing! I thought it might make for some interesting blogging if I work through the idea and execution with you all. I can’t promise it’ll be done soon or anything, but anyway. Onwards! Today – concept and construction notes.

    a new sweater idea!

    So here’s the sketch of my idea. I had the a while ago – it’s not a revolutionary sweater concept of course, I’m sure everyone’s seen (or owns) a cardigan like this! It’s also similar in shape to my Rayne Wrap Cardigan that I released nearly three (whoa) years ago.

    One big difference with this sweater – the working title of which shall be “aguas” – is that it has set-in sleeves and seamed shoulders. This will help it sit better on the tops of the shoulders, and means a better fit through the sleeve and shoulder. I haven’t quite decided how I want to do the sleeve yet, but I’m thinking a fairly slim fit and perhaps ending just below the elbow.

    Aguas will be knit from side to side, like Rayne, but in pieces to be seamed together. It’ll have the traditional cardigan pieces of a back, two fronts, and two sleeves, but knit from side to side. I drew up a quick schematic of how I’m planning to make the shaping work.

    schematics/concept

    As you can see I’ll be casting on at the centre front and work across to the armhole and side seam. The fronts are long and extended for the drapey ruffle at the front. Many of the storebought versions of this shape have sort of a shawl collar at the back of the next that extends down the fronts, but this one will be more straight down without a collar.

    I want to use a lighter weight yarn with this incarnation, so I’m going with Malabrigo Sock in, you guessed it, the colour Aguas! I’m afraid I’m not very creative with working titles.

    Up next – knit this whole sweater in fingering weight stockinette? I do love stockinette, but maybe not that much. So stitch pattern ahoy!

  • v-neck

    v-neck

    Took a few tries (had to rip back a bit due to shoulder miscalculation) but I finished knitting up the yoke the other night and joined the shoulders with a three-needle bindoff. Something about the shape of the neckline in this particular sweater really tickles my fancy!

    Then came some nice twisted ribbing. Works really well with this tweedy yarn. Too bad the dressform kind of lacks shoulders, it makes it look like they’re falling off! Needs a good blocking to help everything relax.

    twisted rib

    The seamless set-in sleeve technique that I’m using is from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitting Workshop.