yarn yoga

I love blogging. I think you guys are the reason I deal with seaming and actually finishing things.

(This yarn is so hard to photograph!)


Pattern: #23 Winter Vogue '04-'05
Yarn: 10 skeins of Summer Tweed
Colorway: Blueberry (There's nothing blue about this yarn; it's purple)
Fiber content: 70% silk & 30% cotton
Needles: Size 8 Crystal Palace Bamboo, Size 11 bamboo for collar bind off
Size: small ~ 39 bust meas. (since when is 39" bust small?)
Alterations: Using a .84 stitch ratio, I changed the yarn in the pattern from AV's Martina to Rowan's summer tweed.
Started: June 1, 2005
Finished: July 1, 2005

I've really enjoyed working on the AV pullover. I calculated the pattern to fit the gauge of Rowan's Summer Tweed, rather than the AV Martina yarn the pattern called for. My ratio was .84 (Yes, I'm anal and used the 4/100ths). Everyone has fallen in love with this yarn as they've seen me work with it. It's nice, in a way, but really it's bad that I'm promoting it. It's 70% silk and 30% cotton. I bought this yarn as I was transitioning into veganism and was basically looking for anything that was luxurious and not wool.

The pattern:

The pattern was wonderful. The specific increases and decreases are named throughout the pattern, which is really nice. Everything was really well laid out and simple to follow. My only change would have been to provide a schematic for the collar. Somehow I made it nearly 4 inches too long. Mine also doesn't seem as wide as it is in the picture. To solve the problem of it being too long, I've just tucked the extra lengths inside the sweater and let them hang, basically. (My boobs stick out far enough to provide a bit of a overhang that makes the extra bulk of collar unnoticeable.


If I were to knit this again, I would make it an inch or 2 longer. Looking at the model, I thought this was going to be just the right length. My chest seems to pull it up a bit in the front, so next time I'd compensate for that. Actually, looking back at the pattern, it should have been 22-23" for the length. I screwed it up somehow, because mine is only 21". (I was probably eager to finish it subconsciously. At least I was consistent, the back and front matched up perfectly. :)

Overall this sweater was a relaxing, fun knit! I am just elated that it fits me so perfectly. The shaping, the arms, the bust all fit with the right amount of ease. It’s very comfortable! I absolutely love the style, as well. This is a sweater I will definitely wear in public. I hope you like it as much as I do!





Helpful hints:

1. When binding off your collar, bind off with a needle about 3 sizes larger than the one you've used to knit the sweater. I knit this up with a size 8, but used an 11 for the collar bind off. You need the bound off edge to be loose so that the collar can fold over on your neck easily.

2. When you seam on the collar, be sure to seam the edge along the back of the neck first. The way you are sure that you will be centered and if you have extra length, like I did, you will still be symmetrical.

3. When seaming this edge along the back piece and collar, do it so that the ugly seaming part will show on the back piece and not on the part behind your neck. The collar will hide the seamed edge on the back, but it may look weird if it shows in the front. The collar bunches up in such a way that it probably won't be noticeable either way really.