So, I have actually been doing a lot of knitting lately, but just haven't had the time to document it. Today, it was sunny and beautiful and even though it was definitely NOT sweater weather, I decided that I couldn't pass up this photo-op, and dragged Ceej outside to photograph my new favorite sweater. Voila the Cabled Yoke Pullover from Patons pattern book Cables #500846.
I used the recommended yarn, Patons Decor in Winter White (I'm not sure if that's the recommended colour). They sell Decor at a LYS near my apartment, and I had the pattern book and had been wanting to knit this sweater for months, and then one day in March I was just overwhelmed with the urge to start it right away! I had some grey wool in my stash that I had intending on using for this project, but the more I thought about it the more I felt that this pattern really needed to be knit in ecru. So I marched to my LYS and bought the Decor because I knew it was available and I'd be able to cast-on that same afternoon. If I were to knit this sweater again, I would use a different yarn, maybe Patons Classic merino Wool, as long as it was something not synthetic. Decor is a lovely, soft, pleasant yarn, but I'm really a wool person. Its the only thing I'd change about this sweater.
I made a couple alterations to the pattern. First of all, I made the smallest size, but felt right off the bat that it was going to end up a bit too baggy for my liking, so I made it a couple stitches smaller all over. I'm really happy with the way it fits now. This is one of the first times that I've been disciplined enough to rip and re-knit portions of a project that I wasn't happy with. Usually, I have a really bad habit of not being a perfectionist, I knit things once, and if I don't like it, I'd rather just never wear it then have to undo and re-knit all that hard work, I know it doesn't make that much sense, but I just hate doing things twice! But, this time, I knew that this sweater had potential, so I stuck with it. I didn't like the way the collar fit me, it was very stretchy, kind of stood up and flipped out and looked very victorian or something, so I undid the cables and did a simple 1x3 rib instead and turned in under to make a stiffer, mock turtleneck look. It really suits me better. Here's a close up of the yoke, I didn't get that much of the collar in the shot, but you can see where the cables stop and the ribbing starts.
I also had to undo the whole bottom 6 inches of the sweater. I followed the pattern, but it ended up with a very short stockinette section and the 6 inches of cables and even with that the whole thing fell somewhere just above my belly button and looked really stupid. At this point, I knew that I'd have to rip, but couldn't bare the thought of it, so I set the whole thing aside for about 3 months. When I decided to give it another go I just undid the 6 inches of cables, knit about 5 inches of plain stockinette, then added 4 inches of cables. I think that the proportions work better on me since I'm petite. A taller woman could probably handle all those inches of cables on the bottom, but for me, it was a bit much. Here's a photo of the better, shorter cabled bottom edge (I also did 4 inches of cables on the sleeves). You may also want to notice my gorgeous new shell leaf ring. I just love it!
I think that come fall I'll get a lot of wear out of this cute pullover. It's casual, but a bit special and different because of it's interestingly placed cables. A winner in my books!
