lundi 13 janvier 2014

Favorite Sweater

I finished my sweater! I actually finished it before christmas, but didn't get around to taking photos until now.

I first saw this sweater on Clmandco's blog. The original is actually an RTW sweater by Sessun that she (and I as a result) fell in love with and decided to reproduce... and she provided her pattern here (in french).

Left: The original inspiration - Right: Clmandco's self-made version

I was so impressed by her result that I decided it was going to be my next sweater. 
The yarn is Laine Mohair et Soie by Phildar in "powder". It's 20% wool, 50% Mohair and 30% silk. I bought it on my trip to France last september.


The pattern was very straight forward, although I ended up making A LOT of changes. I first knitted 2 swatches but both came out with a higher number of sticthes and rows per 10cm (4in) square. I guess in that case you're supposed to use bigger needles and try again. Well, I didn't have bigger needles and didn't feel like making yet another swatch so I decided to recalculate the number of stitches based on my swatch and my measurements. 
I made some fit adjustments as well: added 4 cm to the length below the waist, and made the top (above the chest) 2 cm shorter so that the armholes wouldn't be as low. I also made the bands at the bottom and wrists 6 cm instead of 10.


All this meant I had to recalculate pretty much everything: number of stitches to cast on, to decrease and increase, where to decrease and increase them, etc...I was still able to follow her chart for the front lace pattern, but somehow it looks like I ended up with a lot more repeats (probably cause I had more stitches for the same surface).


The sleeves are were it got really tricky. Because I had changed the height of the armholes (and therefore the circumference), I had to pretty much redraft the sleeve cap. I searched the web for some tips and found several very helpful tutorials/calculators:
This one to figure out where to do the increases when knitting the sleeve.
This one to calculate how many stitches to decrease when knitting the sleeve cap
and this one explaining where to do the decreases when knitting the sleeve cap in order to get the proper curves and match the armhole.


This was all pretty overwhelming at first, especially the last link, but once I'd read it a couple times, it made perfect sense and in the end, I managed to knit a proper sleeve cap.

Other tutorials that I used:
This one for setting in the sleeve before sewing, and this one on how to correctly pick up stitches to add the neck band at the end (the pattern has you knit the band seperately then sew it, but I preferred picking up stitches instead).


I started over a couple times, the back, the lace pattern, the first sleeve, but in the end, it was so worth it. I really love how this sweater turned out. The yarn is SOOO soft and I'm really happy with the final fit. It could be slightly tighter and the sleeves are a bit on the long side, but given all the calculations I had to make, I'm pretty happy with myself. This is definitely one of my favorite sweaters...ever.

Sooooooo soft


9 commentaires:

  1. Beautiful sweater, your hard work paid off! Thank you for the link to the tutorial, I am tempted to give it a try!
    Olga

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    Réponses
    1. Thank you Olga! the lace pattern is pretty straight forward and you could even use a different sweater pattern that you know fits you and just apply it to it...

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  2. You are quite the knitter! Incredible that you were able to make so many modifications. Where and how did you learn how to knit? You're inspiring me, but I can't knit to save my life.

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    1. Thank you Adrienne!
      I really started learning a couple of years ago, when a co-worker of mine started a knitting club at lunchtime. I tried a pair of mittens (two rectangles) and I just got hooked. This sweater is the first big project that I make after shawls and cowls. I find most of my tutorials online (same as for sewing). I think my experience with sewing and fitting clothes was a big help in figuring out this one, even though the fitting techniques are obviously very different... you should give knitting a try! Just start with a simple project but something you really want (a chunky cowl),

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  3. Peux t'on avoir ce modèle en français s.v.p. Merci

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  4. Hello Petite Josette
    Would you mind sharing the tuto? The link is not working anymore :( Thanks !

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  5. Bonjour
    Magnifique pull
    Peux on avoir les explications ?
    Merci

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  6. Bonjour peut on avoir les explications de ce très joli pull en français svp merci

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  7. Vorrei avere per favore le istruzioni per poter realizzare questo modello, mi interessa soprattutto sapere come iniziare la lavorazione a foglie, affinché si possa avere questa forma a triangolo, presumo che si inizi a lavorare solo 1 motivo a foglia e poi man mano aumentare il numero dei motivi ai lati. Ma non so come iniziare! Aiutoooooo. Grazie

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