OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern by Ysolda Teague, Twist Collective Fall 2009
• Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool, kettle dyed color #55, 2.9 skeins (700 yds)
• Size/Gauge: 34″ (0 ease), 4 spi in garter on US 9’s
• Time to knit: 12 days in Sept/Oct 2009

Here’s my latest, part of the SKC 4th quarter KAL.  The knitting is fast, and it’s no surprise that the pattern is quite popular on Rav.  The pattern is well written, with no errata (I was working with the 2nd version, issued 9/15/09).  I had a hard time finding cast on that was neither too tight nor too lose, plus made an invisible transition to the garter stitch, but eventually I did a knitted cast on with size 8 needles (1 size smaller), twisting each st before I placed it on the left needle.  The hardest part for me was keeping track of my progress when the directions are essentially “work even for 100 rows”.  A lockable and removable stitch marker came in handy, to mark the beginning of such sections at the bottom hem, and then I only had to count the number of repeats of the vine pattern.   The garment looked tiny, and especially short, while in progress, but I was able to easily block it to size.

The yarn is a middle of the road (not too soft, not too rough) wool with 4 plies, that I would knit much tighter than the suggested gauge of 4.5 spi if I were knitting stockinette.  I got gauge of 4 spi in garter on 9’s, but the finished fabric is rather lightweight and thin.  This works fine for me, I think it may decrease the stretching over time, and it seems like more of a fall sweater anyway, with the shorter sleeves.  It’s still warm!  My only problem with the yarn is that the skein used for the back had much more variegation than the other skeins (which is to say, the other skeins were almost completely solid).  I was worried that the two fronts would look mismatched, but thankfully only the one skein differed from the others.  In the end, I used way less yardage than pattern requirements.  The buttons are from G Street Fabrics.

The pattern was repetitive at times, but it’s so quick that it never became a slog.  I found the sideways construction novel and fun.  Also, there’s very little finishing, so if you hate sewing seams, this may be one for you.  I like the style; fun, young, and a bit quirky.