FO :: February Lady Sweater that got finished in March ::

Finished February Lady Sweater

HINWEIS: Eine dicke Entschuldigung an meine deutschen Leser. Im Moment ist es wahnsinnig schwierig, Zeit fürs Bloggen zu finden, geschweige denn längere Artikel in zwei Sprachen zu verfassen. Und da ich bei Strickthemen ganz generell auf Englisch einfach ausdrucksfähiger bin, kann ich an dieser Stelle gerade nur einen englischen Beitrag bieten. Bei Fragen zum Projekt/zur Anleitung/zu Modifikationen stehe ich aber gerne auch auf deutsch Rede und Antwort. Einfach Kommentar hinterlassen oder Kontaktformular abschicken.

This sweater was inspired by all the other lovely February Lady Sweaters on Ravelry. It had been sitting in the back of my mind respectively on the bottom end of my to-do-list for a while now. When I came across the Lang Soft Shetland yarn I couldn’t help but finally cast on. But not after carefully studying several FBL projects on Ravelry. Because as much as I liked the sweater I couldn’t turn a blind eye to the pattern’s obvious shortcomings. There are several issues with this sweater I wanted to change/avoid/improve.

Modifications

1. Most sweaters looked like they were actually too small.
2. Gaping front looked kind of unflattering on a bit curvy gals.
3. The sleeves on some sweaters seemed a bit wide on lots of people.
4. The garter yoke hitting right above the bust seemed very unfortunate on curvy gals because it made the breasts bulge out under the lace pattern.

Here’s what I did with my sweater to hopefully improve above stated points.

Size: Apart from a few counting mistakes I basically followed the instructions for a size L to XL where I usually might have gotten away with a size M to L to get a comfortable fit. The larger size also took care of issue No. 4. The yoke now ends slightly under the bust which I personally find a bit more advantageous.

Gaping front: I think the larger size helped considerably to make things better. It’s still gaping a bit but not too badly. Again, hindsight taught a helpful lesson. In the pattern you’ve got pretty much the same amount of stitches for the back and the two front halves added together. The two front halves therefore meet exactly. But didn’t we actually want to button up the whole thing? Wouldn’t that mean the two front halves would have to overlap an inch or so? Well yes, they certainly would have to. But they don’t overlap which means the stretchiness of the knitted fabric has to compensate. It does so fairly well but not quite enough as you can maybe see in the picture at the bottom of this entry. If you would like to have a better fitting garment you would want to cast on additional stitches on both front sides to have them overlap some.

Bunching sleeves: After studying the other FBLs on Ravelry I decided on doing underarm gussets to get rid of the bunching fabric I saw on lots of people. I took a lesson from classic Gansey sweaters and decreased all underarm stitches plus a couple of stitches to left and right. In hindsight I probably also could have left the sleeves out when doing the increases at the end of the yoke.

Finishing

There is minimal finishing involved in this project which is probably one of its charms. Only a few ends to be woven in and three buttons to be sewn on. I used three pretty cute oval Knit Picks buttons. The purple in them matches the purple yarn in a funky way. I washed it in the machine on cold and the wool stetting and laid it flat to dry.

Comment

I’ve worn the cardi a few times and I’m very pleased with how it wears. The yarn is very warm yet still airy and drapey. In broad daylight this sweater – as it originally comes from the pattern – might be most flattering on slim gals without much to show in the boob department. Then it hits just all the right places and looks girlishly cute. Have a look on everyones projects and see for yourselves. On me it’s just another comfy cardigan with nothing cute to it whatsoever. Plus I’m still not sure what to think of the garter yoke. Does it make my narrow shoulders look even narrower, kinda droopy? Or does it add some bulk? Well, anyway, it’s a quick fun project with minimal finishing and a high wearability factor. And did I mention the gorgeous yarn?! I wanna add more of it to my stash right now!

Pattern Details

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
Yarn: Lang Soft Shetland (100% Wool, 130m/50g), color #91 eggplant, 8 skeins and a few meters of another skein
Needles: 5 mm
Gauge: 18-19 sts/10 cm

Nice and comfy on a dreary late winter day