Tags
Also known as My Favorite Sweater Ever! When I saw Norah Gaughan’s Beatnik in the new Knitty Deep Fall, I went to the yarn shop immediately after work to buy as much tweed as it would take for me to have. that. sweater. Luckily L&B had just received a shipment of Berroco Blackstone Tweed (I wanted to go with a woolly tweed instead of the Remix called for in the pattern) – it was spread out in the middle of the room, and I had my pick! Awesome! I came home with 10 balls of the Ancient Mariner (2603) color, and cast on for my swatch immediately.
As is usually the case, I needed a much smaller needle than the yarn calls for – i.e. Blackstone Tweed calls for a US size 7 needle aaaaand I needed a US 3 to get gauge. Oh well, I’m getting used to it! : ) Also, I can only look off camera in one direction. I’m serious, stay tuned . . .
I decided to knit the sweater in the round and do seamless set in sleeves. Basically, I hate seaming so I don’t do it if it can be helped in any way. I knit the body in the round up to the armhole shaping, then worked the sleeves in the round up to the armhole shaping. On the sleeves and the body, I worked short rows instead of binding off stitches, then placed the stitches that would have been bound off on waste yarn to seam up later. Oh, and the armhole shaping for the sleeves and the body doesn’t match, so I used the shaping for the armhole for both (i.e. put the same number of stitches on waste yarn at the underarms and then decreased on the body as set out for the sleeve caps). After decreasing, I worked straight until [rows left to work on the body (excluding the shoulder shaping rows)] = [1/2 the number of sleeve sts]. I worked short rows to shape the sleeve cap (based on the bind off directions from the pattern). At this point each piece (fronts and back) needed to be worked separately, with one stitch from the sleeve cap being consumed on every row of the body. After that, all I had to do was seam the shoulders (ok, there’s some seaming, but it’s minimal) and pick up the collar as in the pattern. Alright, that paragraph is long – I hope it makes some sense.
I’m so happy with the result! After blocking, my Beatnik fits perfectly and I love, love, love the stand-up, boatneck collar. Wearing it makes me feel very Mad Men! : ) Oh, and I was worried about having enough yarn (for my size, I would have needed 11 balls to meet the pattern yarn requirement), but I turned out to only need 8 plus a very tiny bit of the 9th ball of yarn. So now I’ve got some yarn left over to make a matching . . . something! Hmm . . . what would Joanie wear?
I love my sweater!!!!
Yes, that’s my bathroom. Please don’t judge, it’s hard to find good lighting in the house, but I wanted to show off the collar. : )
Knit this sweater! Now! Do it! You won’t regret it! : )
What a wonderful job you have done. I love Norah’s designs, and that is one of my ‘must knit’s.
Adorable, girlfriend! You did a great job. I liked this sweater and Joanie would, too. ;-)
This looks fantastic! I love this pattern, it jumped straight into my mental knit list as soon as I saw it. I love the colour you used :)
Thanks for doing such a fabulous job, with the knitting, the photos, the writing, everything! I loved that sweater when I saw it in knitty, but am always wary of how high-necked sweaters will look on a curvy gal like myself. Your stunning sweater put all my fears to rest, and now I too must. Make. That. Sweater.
I love it! It looks so great! this is definitely on my queue… =D
Your Beatnik looks great. I’m sold! Great explanation of your alterations to the pattern.
I wanted the sweater the minute I saw it in Knitty too, but now I crave it. This is stunning and just the colour I would choose. I need….
Nice work! I’ve been eager to see a completed version of this — fell in love with it as soon as I saw the Knitty cover. Great choice on the color!
very. seriously. cute!
How did you do that so fast?! It’s just wonderful! I have to avoid the yarn shop when new stuff comes in…groceries and all that. :)
I love your sweater! I’m knitting the same pattern (rav: lilacknits) and an wondering how you blocked yours. I’m thinking of just running wires through the sides of the cable panels instead of pinning out each cable to get those nice round…. rounds.
Thanks, I’m glad you like it! Yours looks like it’s coming along great – and I love the color! I sort of did what you suggest for blocking, except I didn’t use wires, I just pinned out the shape of the sweater and the cable panels. Good luck!
This looks fantastic. Congratulations.
I want to make this in the round, too, but didnt quite understand how you did the sleeves. Is there any way to get your advice once I get to that point? It’ll likely be after the New Year.
Thanks
Neela
Hi! Sure, if you want to send me an email with your questions about the sleeves, I will try to help you as much as I can! :)
should i just post my ques. here?
i’ll probably be starting in feb.
thanks
You can send me an email at stockinetteblog @ gmail.com :)
cool. thanks!
Pingback: Rossan | Stockinette
Thank you for sharing your modifications! After reading this post I decided to at least try knitting a sleeve in the round to see how it went, and it turns out that the twisted rib is much easier to do and looks so much better in the round that I’m going to start over on the body (fortunately, all I’d done so far was the hem for the back).
Your Beatnik looks so fabulous! Great motivation for me to knit faster!
You’ve done a wonderful job – I love this pattern, and think that your sweater actually fits better than the one on Knitty. I think this might be a bit complicated for me, but I’m going to try your Margot jumper first. keep up the good work, you’re such an inspiration!
Pingback: Prove Beatnik = Hoodie (20% of total marks) | Lime Scented