FO: Shawl-Collared Lattice Sweater, Pour mon Mari

I am always on the prowl for the perfect guy sweater. Men are very particular- they usually have a well-defined comfort zone when it comes to fashion, and anything teetering on the edge of normal will not get worn. It has to have unique details, but not too complicated or fussy or delicate. Color is important as well- the more drab and boring the color, the more loved it will be. Think of dirt, of UPS Brown, or the color you get when you mix all your watercolors together. That's what we're aiming for.



Cables are okay, but he says, "nothing too Irish". So no crazy cabled fisherman sweater, which aside from the basic plain sweater, seems to be the most popular men's pattern.

I found a pattern in Knitscene the fit the bill. It's called "The Lattice Sweater". I dug around in my stash and found some appropriately drab Cascade 220 Heathers in the color "Sparrow". I got to work on it- I knocked out the sleeves first and then did the body up to the 'pits when I was in Orlando on a business trip.



Everything gets joined at the yolk with raglan decreases, and the neck is split and the lattice cable gave me something interesting to do, finally. Except that I mis-read the instructions and ended up doing half the amount of decreases necessary and realized pretty late in the game that this would fit off-the-shoulder. Sigh.

I tinked back to the armpits, joined everything again, and did the correct amount of decreases. Much better now. Funny fact- when I realized my error in decreases, I denied it at first and continued to knit another few rows before I ripped it back. What the hell is wrong with me? In the end, knitting the yoke a second time didn't kill me as much as I thought it would.

I am going to re-knit the shawl collar though. As it is now, it's not big enough, and it's always teetering on wanting to stand up on its own. I want it to be bigger and drapier. He agrees. A little drama is okay once in a while.




Despite the fact that half the sweaters I've made haven't gotten any use at all this year due to the fact that it rarely hits a temperature cold enough, I keep slogging on with woolie knitwear with the plan of moving to someplace very cold one day. Maybe I should start taking classes in Scandinavian languages and brush up on my reindeer-herding skills.





At the suggestion of a friend, I think there should be some short-rows in the back to give it more shape. The front wouldn't ride up if there was more space for the shoulders. When I fix the collar, I might as well just keep going and rip back a few inches into the sweater as well.



Aside from the minor fit issue, he loves it. It was finished in time for his birthday, but since I fitted it to him multiple times it wasn't a surprise. Surprises when it comes to fit = not a good surprise at all.

I used a full six skeins of Cascade 220 and size 6 needles (size 5 for the ribbing and the collar) to get 19 stitches per 4 inches. I made the 44 3/4" size- his chest with a t-shirt on is 42". It's fitted, but it still gives him a good amount of ease. He loves it (and if he didn't, he wouldn't have the heart to tell me, but since he's already worn it a bunch I'm just going to stick with "he loves it") and I'm happy with it as well. Viva winter!

Some Works in Progress

Two weeks in to 2012 and I've not cast on for a pair of socks. This means, despite having limited knitting time, I've gotten some real progress done on sweaters. Multiple sweaters.

First up is the Pas de Valse from Twist Collective.

It calls for fingering weight yarn but it works up pretty quickly at a loose gauge. I'm using Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in the Adonis Butterfly colorway. I can't wait for this sweater to be done and it's not because I'm sick of knitting it- I just love the way it drapes and I can't wait to wear it. It's almost like putting something on layaway. I keep plugging away at it, and one day it will be mine, all mine!



Because it is hand-dyed yarn and there are variations that can't be helped, I'm alternating every couple rows with another skein. That way, when I change skeins there won't be an obvious color change striping its way across my sweater.

Next up is a manly man sweater. It's the Lattice Sweater from Interweave Knits.

These are the sleeves and they only have a few more inches to go. You can't tell from the sample photo, but the sleeves have a line of rib in the center. The whole sweater is kind of boring to knit, but comforting on the commute. It seems really exciting at this point to do that cable detail around the collar. That's going to be like Christmas and my Birthday all wrapped into one when I finally get there. I am on the road for a business trip next week (that I'm seriously dreading) and I'm going to work on the body then. Flights and late nights mean that there is a chance I'll get a great deal of this knocked out without much effort. I'm using Cascade 220 Heathers in the color "Sparrow". We can't really make a man's sweater in an exciting flashy color now, can we? I'd rather it be brown or gray or a combination of the two and have the sweater get a lot of use. Maybe it can be dark green or navy if we're feeling particularly adventurous.

I actually finished this sweater a couple days ago but I haven't had a chance to get pictures yet. So here is what it looked like a couple weeks ago:



It's the Leyfi pullover by Romi Hill. It's a top-down seamless sweater with a great lace collar and a pretty leafy lace pattern that continues down the sleeves. I'll have more on it later, but I love it and it fits and it's flattering. The yarn is Cascade Eco, which knit up in no time at all once I got over the intricate lace.

An Amazon giftcard from a co-worker went to good use:

Squeeee! My quest to find comfy pumps that don't look frump resulted in these cute Mary Janes from John Fluevog. They have a nice round toe and a sturdy heel, so I've had no complaints at all. I walk quite a bit during my day- not only am I on my feet a great deal at work (well, not a waitress amount, but quite a bit) and then I'll usually have to qualms about walking a mile or so after work to run errands or avoid taking the subway at rush hour. I don't like to carry an extra pair of shoes around, so I'd rather just get something I can walk all day in without crippling myself.

I'll be out of commission for a bit as I go rah rah rah for corporate life and put on my serious face and powerpoint present my ass off. Let us all hope that it does not permanently steal my soul.