Pattern: Metropolis by Tanis Lavallee (moi)
Hat: Grammy’s Hat knit by Chris in a dark version of our Stormy colourway.
Yarn: I held 3 strands of fingering weight with 1 strand of mohair throughout. Stash buster!
Ravelry Project page here.
Boots (because I know someone will ask!) are 6 years old from Mjus shoes.
Sigh. This sweater. Is it possible to love a sweater more than I love this one? No, I think not. This is the absolute highest level of girl/sweater love and I feel lucky to have reached it. :) Believe it or not this is a very slightly modified version of my Metropolis sweater pattern. Isn’t it amazing what a difference the different yarn + the lack of turtleneck make? It’s a completely different sweater. That blows my mind.
Here are the details of my super simple mods:
• I omitted the turtleneck and instead worked 1” of ribbing around the neckline for a perfect crew. Otherwise I made no mods to the neckline shaping.
• Worked 2” of ribbing at the cuffs and hem rather than the longer ribbing of my original sample.
• Went up a size from my original sample - this version has about 6” of positive ease on me. The fabric created by the fingering held together has a nice drape that I wanted to maximize.
• For this sweater I held 3 strands of fingering weight with 1 strand of mohair throughout. I achieved a chunky gauge that matched the pattern specs perfectly. There was no real plan, or rhyme or reason for how/when I changed out the colours. I usually dropped one strand at a time when switching colours and tried to stagger my colour changes but since I was working from scraps that didn’t always work out and I would run out of 2 yarns pretty close together. The sleeves and body, though very similar, are not identical as I ran out of some yarns on the body or on the first sleeve so I substituted whatever I had to achieve a similar look. Go with the flow, do what feels right. It’s an art, not a science.
And that’s all there is to it!
I knit this sweater exclusively from leftover sock yarns in my “leftover sock yarns” bin. Some leftovers were the size of a golf ball, others were almost full skeins. It’s incredibly satisfying to take a pile of odds and ends and turn it into something so beautiful. If I’m being completely honest the sweater came out brighter and more colourful than I had in mind because once I got going with colours it was so hard to reign it in! It’s just SO MUCH FUN! I absolutely love how it turned out though and am not at all mad at the bright colour scheme. Would definitely do this again because it’s like painting with yarn. It’s magic.
If you don’t have a huge stash of rainbow sock yarn scraps to work from a Fade Set would be a great substitute. Something that I think is interesting is that despite the fact that I held 4 strands of yarn together throughout this sweater it only weighs 478g, making it not an especially heavy sweater if you ask me. My original Metropolis with the turtleneck is heavier. Because of the looser fit (nothing clings to the body) and the more open neckline this is a chunky sweater that is totally wearable and not too hot. I dig it.
There are lots of great Metropolis sweater popping up on Ravelry. It’s a great basic pattern to get creative with. Wether it’s with the colour(s) or the hems, the neckline or the length, start with the base pattern and then make it your own! If you’ve never tried modifying a pattern to add your own special signature, this would be a great place to start.
Have a great weekend everyone!