OhSewCrafty Blog

• Pattern: Peace by Kim Hargreaves, from “Misty”
• Yarn: Reynolds Saucy (cotton), 5.3 balls in color #869
• Needles/Size/Gauge: 5 spi on US 6’s, 5’s for seed stitch,
  peplum, 3’s for garter waistband, 34″ (0 ease)
• Time to knit: would have been under 2 weeks, but I ran out
  of yarn and had to order more

Here is Peace, knit in a heavy worsted weight cotton yarn at firm gauge, an antidote to my fingering weight projects!

The pattern is clear, though it has a few fussy aspects.  At first, I had trouble getting gauge (lying swatches) so I used the needle sizes suggested in the pattern and it worked out fine.  The different textures are fun, and the gauge makes for a fast knit.  One minor modification- I left the back neck stitches live and grafted them together.  My grating in seed stitch definitely leaves something to be desired, but honestly I don’t think this area will get much scrutiny.  One issue- I did have some problems with my yarn (detailed below) but do think the yardage in the pattern is somewhat insufficient.  I used about 55 yards beyond pattern requirements and had to get an extra ball.

The yarn is a heavy worsted mercerized cotton with cable construction.  It has a lovely sheen, subtle gray-blue color, and it’s easy to knit.  I’ve used the sportweight before and loved it.  However, this batch was absolutely riddled with knots- each (100g) ball had at least 2 or 3, resulting in tons of ends to weave in.  I discovered the first one when I was casting on 183 stitches for the ripply hem, which was not a happy suprise.  In general I believe many yarns are overpriced and I certainly wouldn’t spend $60 on Rowan Handknit Cotton to make this sweater, However, in this case, I think I got exactly what I paid for (Saucy costs about 60% lesst than the Rowan yarn).  Or maybe not- the knitting experience was frustrating but the finished fabric is fine.  The buttons are from G’s Street: a heavy ecru plastic with subtle grayish-blue ombre effect around the perimeter.  I love them, and the fabric is firm enough to support relatively heavy buttons.

Peace has a cute vintage vibe, and a jacket style that will be nice for work, and go with both skirts and pants.  My apologies for the slightly rumpled photos- this sweater was in my bag for a while as I traveled- the weather in Hawaii wasn’t exactly condusive to sweater-wearing.  

Beautiful backdrop provided by Kailua Beach, Oahu.