OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern by Tonia Barry, Twist Collective Fall 2009
• Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss DK (70 wool/30 silk) in Admiral, 1070 yds
• Gauge/Needles/Size: 5.75 spi on US 4, 34″ bust
• Time to knit: 3 weeks, plus plenty of downtime before seaming

 I love this sweater!  The style is delightfully girly, it’s lightweight yet warm, and the color is sumptuous.

 The pattern is fine, good clear charts.  The only hiccup was row gauge; I believe that the row gauge as stated for the lace pattern is wrong, after I spent an annoying amount of time trying to resolve my visual observations and logical deductions with the pattern.   The only hard part was the buttonbands; it wasn’t easy to pick up stitches from left to right.  I messed up and put the buttonholes on the wrong side.  Oh well, it’s just a silly convention that makes no difference in modern life, when most people of both genders dress themselves.  I used snaps between the buttons to minimize gaping.

 The yarn is just fabulous; I’d love to use it again.  While at a slightly higher price point than many Knitpicks yarns, it’s still a great value.  A nice tight twist gives it good stitch definition and durability, while the silk provides beautiful sheen and excellent dye saturation.  The color is a deep blue with purple undertones, just gorgeous.  It seemed a rather thick for a dk, and I think it may work at a light worsted gauge.  It seemed quite tight at 5.75 spi on US 4’s, but I think that helped limit stretching, as it behaved quite well throughout blocking.  No dye run, either.  The sweater was pretty tight when finished, so I did stretch it gently while blocking, to about 35″ (minimal positive ease) and also to open up the lace.  

 I’m very pleased with Lorelei; I don’t have anything quite like it.  Once again, the SKC lace KAL provided the impetus to get the yarn out of my stash and onto the needles.  I am hoping for another two sweaters to be part of the KAL ending March 31….