I have a TON of FOs to blog about. Okay, I have three FOs to blog about. But this is the biggest and best one, so I’m starting with it… And this week is the glorious NY Sheep and Wool Festival, so an all-around great knitting week for me!
Back to the sweater: I was contacted back in April by Eszter Sarkozy, aka Wondrlanding, to test a new, fingering weight sweater for her. The sample photo she’d sent was pretty, so I agreed with the caveat that I am super busy and have been incredibly slow to finish things. She was fine with that, and I happened to fit really well into her slate of test knitters because I was a size that hadn’t been covered. I always like feeling useful!
I also told her I’d never test knitted something before, so I wasn’t sure how that would go. In the interest of full disclosure, I generally ignore mistakes I make while knitting. It’s very rare for me to do things like knit gauge swatches, rip back several inches, or worry too much about things that are fixable with a K2TOG or M1L or something. I know, I know. But no one can generally tell, and it’s not worth the worry.
The sweater has a high-low hem and some interesting shoulder details. When I saw the sample photo, I came up with a clear vision of what I wanted to do with the design elements. I knew the shoulder detail would look amazing if I could find a yarn that had a slight halo. I also knew I wanted a neutral that would play nicely with my black leather leggings, so despite having just finished a sweater in light grey, I knew it was the right choice.
After perusing some of my favorite yarn labels, I settled on Madelinetosh’s Tosh Mo Light. I hadn’t worked with that base before, but the mohair content was what I was looking for in terms of texture. My required gauge swatch looked good and the finished fabric felt great, so it was off to the races. I used a slightly larger needle, so my fabric is a bit less substantial, which matched my delicate, fuzzy version of the pattern.
I was surprised that the back had a single-row repetition of the shoulder cutouts along the hem. A cute detail that helps make the back lay properly by releasing the tension from the reverse stockinette. I really wish I’d taken a photo of the sweater at 3/4 to show the transition of the front to back, but it’s fairly gradual. I tried to airbrush the wrinkles out of this, but I’d folded it right after unpinning it, and I had a few that are now steamed out. Hopefully I won’t make that mistake again!
I so love this sweater, and I feel like it’s absolutely wearable, either with a tank or a long sleeve tee underneath. I’ll be wearing it at Rhinebeck this year, so please stop by and say hi if you recognize me. The few times that’s happened before have made me so happy!