Recently in somewhat cowl Category

Can I tell you guys how much I LOVE this sweater! The yarn, the fit, the fact that it got done in 2 weeks. Two Weeks!

Specs

Pattern Somewhat Cowl by Wendy Bernard
Yarn Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed in a fabulous sage with bits of kelly green and roasted pumpkin
Mods Lots!

• Silky Tweed's gauge is 5.5 spi, and the pattern was written for 6 spi. This was an easy mod, I just used cast on numbers for a smaller size. I think the yarn would have knit up at 6 spi as well but with the wool and silk content I didn't want to knit it tighter for fear I'd roast in the thing. With short sleeves I wanted it to breathe.
• I did a much shorter raglan depth (I think it was 9.5 inches measured along the diagonal increase line). If I did it again I'd go even a half inch less. I'm short and I like fitted armholes.
• I started the cowl much earlier because I'm busty and I didn't want to need to wear a tank underneath it.
• I added short rows at the bust. I started them 1/4 of the way in on each side, spaced them an inch apart, and did 6 short rows on each side. This added about an inch of length and made the sweater fall evenly across my bust.
• I added waist shaping. Just an inch in on all sides.
• I lengthened the body ribbing to 4 inches so the body would end exactly where I wanted it to end. Gotta love top-down for that.
• I short rowed the sleeves a bit. A classic problem with raglans is that the sleeves come out from the body at a sharp angle, while your shoulders actually curve in a much more graceful way. So, I added a few short rows at the tops of each sleeve. I think it did the trick because there isn't any bunching along the shoulders.

  
  

  
  
  


• For the cowl, I reduced all purl 2's to purl 1's at the bottom of the cowl and at each point where the cowl meets the sleeves. I did this by following the directions as written for 1.5 inches, then decreasing in the places I mentioned, and knitting for another 1.5 inches. Then I increased all the purl 1's back up to purl 2's. This encourages the cowl to fold.


• I decided I liked the cowl better folded out. No change to the pattern, it's just more comfortable to me. After wearing it for a day I've decided to sew the cowl down at the bottom of the U. My seatbelt kept catching it and it started to pucker up (you can see it in the pic above).

Thoughts on the Yarn

I love this yarn. After having worn it for a whole day I can tell you that while it does have wool and silk in it that it really lets you breathe too. Two non-knitters complimented me on the sweater (without knowing it was handknit) and they both commented on how cool the coloring was. The yarn has a lot of depth.

The one "feature" this yarn has is that the ribs flatten out. It's probably to low amount of wool in proportion to the cotton and silk. It works well for this design, but I wouldn't use it for something that requires cinched ribbing. I suspect a heavily cabled design would also be wider in this yarn than in a 100% wool. I don't think it would poof up like a wool.

Still, I love this yarn and I will definitely be making more things out of it. The color selection is great and the gauge is versatile.

Yup, the cowl's done. All I have is a few hours worth of sleeve knitting and this will be totally done!

If all goes well I'll be able to wear it out to dinner tomorrow night.

I never thought that'd be possible two weeks ago when I cast on. Imagine how much I could get done if I was this focused all the time!

I've finished the body ribbing. I ended up doing closer to 4 inches of ribbing just so the body would end exactly where I wanted it to end.

Sunday night I picked up stitches around the cowl -- 208 (yay! divisible by four!) -- and promptly went to bed. That's more stitches than what was on the body.

I now have a couple of inches of cowl ribbing done, and I've made another notable mod. I decreased the ribbing along the back neck as well as the center portion (where you cast on extra stitches to join the two fronts). I decreased approximately 10 stitches in each area, and I did it by changing a purl 2 to a purl 1 in all those places. Click on the left pic below--see how the ribs look like they're getting closer together? That's because they are.

Why did I do this? Well, I've seen a few of the SCs out there that have looked a little floppy, and I was concerned that mine might do that too. So, decreasing the cowl and then increasing it back will give it more support and help the under layer to stay close to my body.

See that pic on the right? That's to show you what a 9.5 inch raglan depth looks like on me. There's still plenty of room. I did cast on about 8 stitches at each underarm to merge the front with the back, but still -- that length is plenty long.

Now, I'm only 5'2" so I'm sure some of you will need longer. My point in showing you this is to realize you don't need that long of a raglan. In fact, raglans that are too long are ill-fitting because they restrict your arm movement (and pull up your sweater more as you raise your arm), and bunch up under your arm when your arm is down because there's extra fabric where you don't need it.

So, if you're doing a raglan try it on often! This is one of the easiest shapes to fit to your own body--just give it a try.