As strange as it sounds, I subscribe to Vogue Knitting even though I'm a knitwear designer, because there are always new techniques or stitch patterns or inspirations that I can get. In school we called this industry research. Many of our classes had requirements that we go to stores and try on clothes and really study them inside and out to get ideas for new techniques, new ways to seam, how different fabrics or yarns were treated to get specific results. The research wasn't about copying other designers, it was about figuring out other ways to do things. Anyhow, my main reason for making the sweater featured on the cover, was to learn the lattice stitch on it. I first saw this stitch pattern on a very high end designer sweater about two years ago and have been trying to find this in stitch books ever since. The stitch is a very easy, yo, k2tog, so I know I'll be adding this to lots of future projects. This issue has several sweaters I can't wait to knit. I actually started with a different project from this issue, a tunic/tank, but I set it aside because it was a bit boring, with lots and lots of stockinette and very minimal shaping. Once I finish my current project, I'll go back and finish that one.
I started knitting this sweater about two weeks ago while I was on vacation. As usual, I ended up ripping out and restarting several times before I finally got the correct number of stitches in the correct stitch pattern. I could have finished this much sooner but I don't have a lot of time for knitting with all the family activities going on. While I liked the original sweater, there were parts of it I thought were a bit sloppy looking so I made a few changes. You can check out my progress on Ravelry (username is cpc) where I'll be posting pictures of my progress. So far, I've finished both sleeves as well as both fronts and backs. I'm now working on the ribbing for the hem. I knit the body and sleeves, and then went back and picked up stitches along the hems to knit the ribbing trim (pre-planned out just in case I ran out of yarn).
Instead of the cotton yarn used in Rebecca Taylor's version, I'm using a gorgeous peacock green/blue merino wool/alpaca yarn from Shibui Knits. I bought the yarn from my favorite yarn store, Knit Purl in Portland, Oregon. Usually, I shop online, but I was lucky enough to visit Portland in April (even luckier, they happened to be having a big sale that weekend) and bought more yarn than the pattern called for. It just figures, that I'm going to run out anyway and I still have to knit the hood and front trim. How annoying! I'm waiting to see whether there's any more in the store that doesn't show up online. Otherwise, I'm going to have to use a different yarn in a coordinating color or put this sweater aside until they get something in a yarn and color that will work with my beautiful blue/green sweater. Aargh! Of course it's just the sort of sweater I'd wear every day if I could just finish it.
