speechless!
i am so excited to make this post! i have to get that out of the way first.
last summer, as i was moving out of my old apartment, i found a box of yarn waiting for me on the doorstop there. it turns out, it was for a design i had submitted to interweave knits! i couldn’t believe that my garment had been selected for the issue. of course, i loved what i had submitted, but i’ve learned that even the best designs sometimes don’t end up in publications. there are many reasons why this happens, and all of them are equally valid, so, as a designer, i try not to take rejections personally.
i love interweave, so i felt like the pressure was on to make a great sweater. i knit this one twice and still wasn’t pleased with it! but everyone who was around me while i was working on this told me that i was being obsessive in a bad way, and it was a few days before it was due anyway, so i cut the proverbial cord and sent it off into the world. by the way, the calendar in the following photo is awesome, i bought it from a fellow smith graduate, website here
it is a much smaller size than i am, and i hoped that my good (and smaller) friend louisa would be able to help me take some photos. but she left for a semester in italy before i could corner her and make her wear it for a while. so, i didn’t really think about it all that much until a few days ago, when i checked out the interweave website and saw this:
i couldn’t believe it! i feel so honored to be on the cover of this issue. the other garments and accessories in it are gorgeous. their other photos of the sweater are beautiful, too.
for more information, check out the interweave knits preview of this issue.
first encounter (ravelry link)
mill river cardigan (ravelry link)
sea nettle (ravelry link)
Congratulations! It’s really beautiful!
thank you!
Congrats, I found your blog because of this pattern! It is stunning. I downloaded the mag today and this is one I really want to make!
Thanks, for both the compliment and the comment! I hope you make it, I can’t wait to see someone else knit it up
I feel like I know a celebrity! Congrats on a gorgeous knit and a beautiful Interweave cover!
aah it is crazy! thank you!
This sweater is gorgeous! I haven’t knit a sweater for myself yet, but I’m sorely tempted by your design. Great job!
oh, thank you! and i’m always a proponent of selfish knitting, especially when it comes to sweaters, so let me know if you make it! i’d love to see it.
WOW!! i am so excited to see this post and the sweater! You are awesome! I hope you have some new ideas coming out soon.
thank you! i think this sweater would have looked really good on you, i wish you were here for when i needed it modeled
that said, i now think that maybe you were in maine and not already in italy! boo anyways.
I’m so excited for you! The sweater has such a lovely silhouette. And the detail is fabulous as well. It’s no surprise that they chose it for the cover.
thank you! and, i’m still surprised even if you aren’t, haha.
Congratulations!! That issue arrived in my mailbox this morning, and I instantly fell in love with your sweater. It’s on my list of ‘for sure’ knits to knit.
Thank you! I can’t wait to see it when you knit it!
I was at Stop ‘n’ Shop in Greenfield (yes, that’s to the north of you in the Pioneer Valley) yesterday, saw IK and HAD to buy it. My subscription had lapsed two years ago due to poverty, but I couldn’t resist this issue, based on the cover. Home sick today from work, I got a chance to read the edition and look closely at your tunic design. Then I nearly plotzed when I read the byline and it said you live in western MA.
So, I have two questions: 1) What is negative ease–Does that mean the photographer pinned the garment in the back so it would stretch tight over the model? 2) Could this be made with long sleeves–even thought I’m a native, I have a cold house and a cold workplace and short sleeves just don’t cut it.
And congratulations on making it into IK AND being the featured pattern! Western MA, represent!
hi! i’m so glad you liked this sweater! the answers to your questions are:
1) the garment measured about 30″ at the bust and the model was probably a little bigger, probably around 32″. if you want it to be pretty tight on you and you are between sizes, pick the smaller one. if you are almost exactly the same as the finished measurement, i’d pick the same size that you are, since the ribbing at the sides will pull in for a similar effect.
2) you can definitely make the sweater with long sleeves! i think i’d cast on 12 or so stitches less than the sleeve cast on for your size. usually i end my decreases a little above the elbow and then have a few inches of plain knitting, so what i would do is find the number of increase rows you need (if you CO 12 extra sts, it will be 6 inc rows in addition to the ones in the pattern already), and then find the number of rows in your sleeve minus 4 or 5 inches (calculate this based on your desired sleeve length minus 4 or 5 inches, times your row gauge) and then divide the number of rows by the number of increase rows and put them that many rows apart. so, hypothetically, if you had 8 increase rows and 72 rows for your sleeve length before the flat knitting part, you’d be increasing every 9 rows. does that make sense? good luck!