Gallery Sweater. FO Details.
Happy Wednesday!
This week I visited a wonderful local art gallery of my friends. It was a small party where I met wonderful people and had the opportunity to share my passion for fiber "art" with them. The gallery can be found 5 minutes outside the town, in a quiet neighborhood surrounded by beautiful nature.
Alfredo, a collage artist, and his lovely wife Montserrat organized this event in order to bring people from different corners of the world to meet, talk and just enjoy each others company.
The gallery is surrounded by a wonderful garden. It's very close to the city, but it doesn't feel like it at all! Trees, fruits, fallen leaves make you believe you are in a wonderland.
I was lucky to be invited and bring some of my knits to share with those who are interested in fiber work. I really wanted to make something special for the event. My Gallery Sweater took me a week to make on the knitting machine, I ripped it out a dozen of times to finally get the look that I had in my head. It's a very simple and basic raglan sweater, which is all about the fiber.
Project Notes
Ravelry page. Gallery SweaterPattern. Mine. It's not a structured "official" pattern, I had my notes, but changed a lot of things along the way.Knitting machine. The sweater was knit on Silver Reed LK150 knitting machine, stitch dial – 3.5.
Yarn. I enjoyed mixing two types of yarn in one project so much - laceweight alpaca+silk+merino wool created airy fabric that feels like a spider web on your skin. This is probably the softest sweater that I've ever made! I was also very pleased with the color effect that was created by combining two types of yarn. Hand dyed Shimmer Lace Yarn (70% alpaca/30% silk) was so beautiful to work with! Such a shame it is discontinued!
Texture. I decided to stick with the reverse stockinette stitch and make a folded hem with the classic stockinette to create a slight texture contrast and prevent the hem from curling. It took me two attempts to figure out the necessary width that would be enough to keep the fabric flat, but not interfere with the whole picture. I really love this "ridge" right between the hem and the main body. Folded hem is also very handy to use for hiding yarn tails - I just thread them inside the hem and they will never "escape"!
Neckline. The neckline took me so much time to figure out! I trimmed it 6 times and it was driving me crazy!!! Nothing seemed to work - I didn't like the classic ribbing because it gets lost in variegated yarn, I tried single crochet - it curled, double crochet - it puckered. At the end I finally remembered about an attached I-cord! It took me three attempts to figure out the right width of it, but at the end it seemed just "right". I used this tutorial - Applied I-Cord Border Basics - to remind me the technique basics of the attached I-cord.
Sleeves. One of my favorite details are the sleeves. I didn't trim the sleeve cuffs to let them roll and then I folded them, so the curled edge is in reverse stockinette that is in contrast with the "wrong" side of the garment in classic stockinette. It creates a great textured effect! Remember, though, if you ever decide to make something like that - you should make the sleeves 2-4" longer than usual!
Overall it was an exciting and challenging project that I was so happy to share with somebody in "real" life :) I usually don't like to rush myself on the projects and knit with the deadline, but I guess it was a necessary push to get more productive! Gallery Sweater is my first FO for my Machine Knitting Challenge 2016! So January can be checked!
I am joining Yarn Along to connect with other crafters from all over the world!
I hope you are having a wonderful week!
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