I sewed the pieces of my Gransmoor sweater together on the plane! I was determined to wear the pullover to Interweave’s Yarnfest in Loveland and I got my wish! You can see my husband teased me about my mad deadline knitting until he caught me in a silly photo:
Gransmoor is designed by Lisa Richardson using Hemp Tweed. The design is from Rowan Magazine 62. I have been longing to knit it, but working a whole stranded sweater in pieces is not for the faint of heart. Adding another level of difficulty, the sweater has raglan shaping so you have to track many decreases for the body and sleeves on both front and back while stranding on knit and purl sides. Since it was so complicated anyway I decided to add waist shaping as well. However, I feel the raglan structure is the trickiest part of the pattern. All of the side decreases for the raglan shaping means the pattern is constantly shifting over one stitch on each side and so I did end up making a mistake as I was working on the purl side of the garment where I couldn’t see the pattern:
This is the correct version of the top panel, which converts from a grey leaf to a white leaf with the stems of the leaves aligned in the center. I hadn’t realized this was the anchor point when I was knitting the motif the first time. As I decreased the WS edge for the raglan and purled across, I accidentally shifted the center point of the leaf motif over by one but I couldn't see the pattern as I was on the purl side. I didn’t discover the error, actually, until I knitted the front piece. At that point I went back and unraveled the whole top panel of the back. Now the pattern is correct but the raglan sleeves may be just a bit too long. I hope they will not lengthen even more with wear!
Paired with this sweater is the pencil skirt I sewed with Maxi, my mother-in-law’s help several years ago. She left me to finish it on my own and you can see that I put it off for quite a while! But I think this skirt is super versatile and I plan to wear it with many different knits. Such as…..GASP…. the gorgeous sweater Maxi gifted to me during my visit!
The gorgeous stranded creation I am wearing is Magnolia by Marie Wallin knitted in Rowan felted tweed. Maxi purchased the kit and altered the shaping across the shoulders for a better fit. This cardigan is really a masterpiece! Maxi decided to give this sweater to me and I will treasure it FOREVER! You can find her notes on the project here.
I think with this gift I have won the knitting lottery of all time!