Hey fellow crafters,
I mentioned in the last article that I'd share my new finished object. Well, here it is, as well as my personal feedback on this popular knit.
Here Are the Details:
Pattern published in December 2021
Suggested Yarn: Ístex Plötulopi – Unspun Icelandic
Pattern available in 10 sizes
I bought my kit at The Woolly Thistle (not sponsored, I did pay full price for it). It was a gift from me to me for the Holidays 😆
Photo Credit:© Tania Barley
One thing I need to mention from the get go is that this sweater's main color in the product image is green! I always saw it as a charcoal gray, but no! My eyes betrayed me, and I got the surprised when I opened the package on Christmas Day.
So now you're warned, this kit came with a dark green as the main color. In the end I don't mind, I love green, but it didn't match my expectations at first. In most pictures, the garment looks like the main color is gray, when it is in fact, green.
So, here's my review.
First of all, this sweater is way oversized. I followed the sizing to get it slightly bigger, but it turned out with about 10+" of positive ease. Of course, I didn't swatch first, so that may have contributed to the issue. Oops! But, it turns out that I love how oversized it is.
*Here's my finished, unblocked sweater in all it's glory!
Non-Negociable Short Rows
The pattern has you add short rows to the back right after working the yoke, and I think it improves the fit, contrary to foregoing the short rows altogether. That's something that bugs me, that I see in so many yoke pullovers: that there's no short rows to raise the back! Argh!
No short rows mean that the back of your sweater will be very low, not covering your neck and upper back/shoulders area. Pay attention when looking at pattern pictures on Ravelry, and you'll find it's obvious when the patterns don't have this! For me, some kind of short rows on the back are an absolute must. If the pattern doesn't have any, I will add my own. If I can't, because of the construction or for whatever reason, I skip the pattern altogether.
Colorwork Charts
The colorwork charts were pretty straightforward, but required me to pay attention when working the fox and trees section. Besides that, it was fairly easy. Only thing worth noting: some rows have you handle 3 different colors, and wrapping your floats. That was tricky, and slightly more fiddly to deal with than I would've liked (I only knit at night when I'm tired #momlife ).
Yarn
The only issue with this kit, is that the yarn is unspun. Which means it has no twist AT ALL!
A teeny tiny pull on my tension had me swear for minutes while I had to split splice the yarn back together again. Not an easy task when the yarn breaks within an inch of the working needle. Ugh! I will NEVER knit a sweater with unspun yarn, ever again! (I know I shouldn't say never, but you get the gist).
This project became SO frustrating, only because of the yarn thinning or breaking off. I usually wrap the yarn 3 times around my index finger to give myself the proper tension to knit continental. But with this yarn, I had to constantly go from 3 wraps to 2 to sometimes 1 to resetting again to 3, to 2, to 3 to 2 to 1 and then again... Ugh!
And you can clearly see how that fact that this yarn isn't spun affected my tension. My floats are an absolute disgrace when I worked with 3 colors!
Proof in case:
*My ugly floats, because I like to keep it real in this space. Nobody is perfect, and when I'm knitting with unspun yarn, it clearly shows I'm no exception either!
Hopefully these will dissolve while blocking, or felt later on and it will all be fine over time.🤞🏻
Overall, I think this sweater is great and I can't wait for colder temperatures so I can get cosy in it. But, I would NEVER knit it again with this yarn. So if you've been considering knitting this gorgeous pattern, do yourself a favor, and use a different yarn.
You've been warned!
Happy knitting!