Where we once knitted: Three in one

1/23/2017

Three in one

Somehow I feel I say this quite often, but yeat again, I knitted my new favorite sweater - or in a way, three sweaters.

How: Circular needles 3.5 and 4.0 mm

From: DyeForWool Merino Silk Fingering + Madelinetosh Merino Light + Handmaiden Fine Yarn Casbah, 177 + 60 + 33 g

I've dreamt of knitting this one for years. It has been waiting for the perfect color and yarn combination. Finally, I quit stalling because I needed something simpel to knit at the movies.

I went through my stash for colors that would go together and weighted the scrap skeins carefully. You can use some scrap yarns for this pattern but not the smallest ones. I used 97 and 82 grams of green merino silk blend for the topmost sweater, 50 grams of TML for the one color sweater and 10 grams of green TML and 33 grams of creamy Casbah for the striped sweater underneath. I ran out of Casbah with just five more rows to go on the neck band. Luckily a friend had some of the same color and was kind enough to donate a few meters.

I'm a pretty daft knitter from time to time. I started the topmost sweater with yarns I found in my stash but they didn't work well with the other yarns and I had to do some tinking. I searched for new yarns online and ended up ordering almost identical colors to those I had already tried. And yet, the tiny differences in the color tones had a big impact and these yarns worked perfectly.

Now, let's talk about the pattern. It's knit bottom up (yes, can you believe it?!) and the different hems are shaped with short rows. The body is knit to armholes and left waiting while you knit the sleeves to armholes as well. Finally, The body and sleeves are joined and the rest is knit in one piece. The three different hems and sleeves give the illusion of three different sweaters on top of each others.

I didn't like the direction of knitting nor the endless yarn ends, carrying the yarns at striped short rows and the sizing of the pattern. I usually end up making size L in most sweater and cardigan patterns. This time I started in size M but it was enormous, it could fit two of me! In the end, I made this in size XS. And I'm not the only one thinking the sizing if off. The XS fits me well except for the sleeves, those became too tight.

I also wish the neck band was made similarly as the hem. Now there were just few rows of purled stitches before a color change and it doesn't work as well as in the hem. If I were to knit this again, I would knit few rows of st st and bind off the stitches before changing colors. Yes, that would mean even more yarn ends to weave in but I feel it would look nicer.

Enough of complaining. Except for the stuff mentioned above, the best thing about this sweater is everything. The illusion of three sweaters, the chance to destroy some scrap yarns, the endless color combination possibilities, the extra long sleeves. Just everything. I love wearing it. Did I remember to mention it's my new favorite sweater? I think I must make more of these.

Because I liked the asymmetry in the hem, I modified the sleeves to be asymmetric too. In the pattern they are identical but I made the first section of the other sleeve shorter. The end result is subtle but makes the sweater seem even more relaxed.