OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: Interweave Knits, Spring 2009
• Yarn: Ella Rae Silkience (cotton/modal/silk/rayon), color #11, 8 balls
• Size/Gauge: 35″ /gauge on US 5= 21.5 spi
• Time to knit: 2 weeks in March 09

I love it!  It’s cute, perfect for spring, and while knitting through cold, gray, dreariness, the color reminded me that there would be brighter days ahead.  The sweater feels heavenly to wear and it looks great dressed up or down. 

I made a lot of mods to the pattern, starting with knitting at a smaller gauge to get a size between the two smallest.  I knit the sleeves flat, since the sweater was knit flat.  I knit the armholes to a half inch shorter depth, then did short row shoulder shaping.  I skipped some of the slipped stitch edges; I find those awkward for seaming.  After reading about stitchywitch’s problems with the buttonbands, (and finding the directions strange), I decided to knit them completely separate and attach buttons later, after the bands were seamed to the front.  This meant subtracting the stitches that would later be put on hold when I casted on each front piece (I did include a seam stitch).  Instead of knitting the bands until equal with the fronts “slightly stretched”, I just knit the same number of rows (122) and figured that since the twisted rib patt has a slightly compressed row gauge, it would work. 

The yarn is lovely!  It’s soft, silky, cool to the touch, with a wonderful drape and slight sheen.  Unlike many cotton/rayon blends, this yarn is not terribly splitty.  I would love to use it again.  It was a joy to knit with, except for the clam stitch.  I had to knit that very tightly for it to look good, maybe I should have gone down more than just one needle size.  Still, I find this section of the sweater has a tendency to poof out, as you can see in the photo above.  The buttons are from M&J Trimming in NYC. With buttons stacked to the ceiling, and another huge room full of ribbons, etc., M&J was this seamstress’ dream.  But my birthday weekend trip to NYC perhaps deserves another post!

Speaking of sewing, guess what?  I made the skirt too!  (It was always my plan to debut this sweater on Easter Sunday, and I decided I needed a new skirt too).  It’s Vogue 8560.  The fabric is quilting cotton, and cling-free lining for the pockets, from G Street.  Mods to the pattern: had to cut a new pattern piece for the upper yoke back, as that piece was identical to the lower yoke back.  To accommodate a few extra pounds on my waist/hips, I cut the size 12 (my usual) but added 3/8″ to the width of all the pieces and used a 1/2″ seam allowance on the side seams.  I subbed an invisible zipper, which I do 99% of the time.   I skipped the waistband, just sewed the yoke and yoke lining at the waist with right sides together, pressed the seam towards the skirt, turned the lining to the inside, and topstitched just below the waist.  I had no problems with the sewing, though the two-tier yoke, pleats, and pockets took a bit longer than a typical skirt.  Below, a closeup of the back.  I just love this fabric, the vintage vibe of the pattern, and the punch of color from the green hem band.