Ugh, this sweater. Sooo much work for such disappointing results.
The timeline
I started this sweater last year in March and completed it in August, with at least a half dozen smaller projects in between to give me breaks. The pattern required concentration, and sometimes I just needed something simpler for more meditative knitting. So while it did take a big ol chunk of time, it wasn’t 6 months non-stop for sure. And yes, I did complete this sweater and take photos more than half a year ago. What can I say? It hurt my feelings, and I needed some time to get past it.
The yarn and pattern
Both yarn and pattern are from Expression Fiber Arts, which has long been a favourite source for absolutely gorgeous yarn. In this instance, the yarn is Seacoast Fingering (83% Pima Cotton, 12% Baby Alpaca, 5% Polyamide) in a colour called Palegic, and it’s lovely. Quite nice to work with, it has an interesting kinky/wavy texture that is much softer than I expected from looking at it.
The pattern is called Riptide and it’s currently priced at $7USD. Not sure if I paid for it, or if it was a free download at the time. The bright side is that the pattern has a wide range of sizes. The downside is that I feel like the pattern was designed for one of the smaller sizes and then just sized up mathematically. Like, for a 25% larger bust, just the other proportions up by 25% as well. Unfortunately, human bodies don’t work that way…
Or maybe it was properly sized up and thoroughly tested, and I just messed mine up that badly. Also possible! The pattern is designed (allegedly) for 6–10 inches of positive ease, so I opted for a size that should provide about 8 inches of positive ease. I also knit a gauge swatch, so I thought I’d be okay. Important to note that the pattern says, “For this yarn, the as knit length is approximately 80% of the finished blocked length.”
So, I knit to 80% of my desired finished length, which meant I added about 4 inches in length to the solid pattern because I’m a tall girl and wanted closer to a tunic length. But, I mean, look at how it turned out. It’s very wiiiiiiide and short.
There is lots of horizontal stretch to the pattern and not so much vertical. Blocking widened the pattern sections substantially, but try as I might, I couldn’t get that much additional length. The lacey pattern goes far too low in the front to be worn without a tank or camisole underneath. And imagine if I knit it to the specified length. It would be a crop top. The neck is also waaaaay wide, which is what makes me think it was proportionally sized up. (Like, a gal’s shoulders do not widen out to football player with pads on size just cause she has larger boobs or a belly.)
Anyway, it’s a bummer all around. I’ve worn it once, but it’s just not good. I’ve thought about maybe stitching the neck closed a little further up the shoulders, but I just don’t know what else to do. Suggestions welcome.
