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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

At Least It Took Less than a Year

Thanks to some seriously dedicated knitting time last week and over the weekend, I finally have an FO to show you!


Pattern: Airflow by Justyna Lorkowska
Yarn: Dream in Color Jilly (100% superwash merino) in Sangria, approximately 2 1/3 skeisn
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm) circulars
Started/Completed: April 9/August 8
Mods: none

Having once knit a sweater in about two weeks, four months does seem like a long time to complete what is essentially a simple sweater (after all, this one was in stockinette, with no fancy stitches necessary). But this sweater is worked in fingering weight yarn, on small-ish needles, and considering I didn't touch it for several periods of time, I'd say it really didn't take as long as it seemed to -- especially when you consider the length of time it's taken me to knit a lightweight sweater in the past. I would have been done a lot sooner had the sleeves not tripped me up; really, I flew along on the body and had most of the knitting done by the end of May, but then I just stalled out.

Anyway, it's done now and I love it. I was a bit aggressive in blocking (mainly to try to encourage the edging to lay a bit more flat in spite of the fact that it wants to roll), so it has really nice drape without being too big. The sleeves are just long enough to keep my arms from getting chilly but not so long that they get in the way of anything. If I were knitting it again, I might adapt the edging that runs around the neck and along both sides to something other than stockinette to encourage it to stay open a bit more, as the bit of edging doesn't seem to be doing much.

Sorry for the blurriness -- this is what happens when you have to rely on someone else to take pictures of you!
I enjoyed using this yarn, which reminds me very much of tosh merino light (it might, in fact, even be the same base), though I'm not sure I'd use it for a sweater again. I can already tell that this garment is going to be a bit on the delicate side -- not necessarily a problem, but I'll just have to be more careful than usual to ensure I haven't snagged it on something. I think it would probably be better suited to a scarf or shawl, and I'll keep it in mind for that kind of project in the future. The dye job on this yarn was beautiful, and while I did alternate skeins as I would for any hand-dyed yarn (every two rows on the body, every round on the sleeves), I didn't have any issues with pooling.

Overall, I think this project is a winner, and I'm feeling very proud of myself for actually finishing it while I can still get some use out of it!

2 comments:

  1. Lovely! If the front edge decided to roll too much, you could always pick up stitched around it and add a border of garter or seed stitch, assuming you have enough yarn left over. But I'm guessing you have already thought of that since, as a knitter, you didn't just fall off the turnip truck. :-)

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  2. Looks great! I love the sleeve length. Sleeves always hang me up too, but the result is always worth it! This color is great on you, and the fit looks fantastic :)

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