August 22, 2017

F.O. Goode by Julie Hoover

Let me share with you the facts about a sweater I knit over several months that I have a terrible feeling I am going to rip out.

Pattern:  Goode


Designer:  Julie Hoover

Yarn: Purl Soho Linen Quill (50% wool, 35% alpaca, 15% linen)  4 skeins

Purl Soho Linen Quill

Colourway: Oatmeal Gray




Goode




Needles:   3.25 mm

Ravelry:  Link

Added Notes:


1. The Yarn:  One of the things I absolutely love about knitting is trying new yarn, especially with a combination of fibers that I have never knit with before. I first heard about Purl Soho's Linen Quill through Karen Templer's Fringe Association blog. She knit a gorgeous cardigan using two strands of this yarn. See it here. Her rave review of this yarn interested me enough to pick up a few skeins on a visit to New York. The fabric this yarn creates is lovely. Light and wooly with a slight halo, I would highly recommend it.  It is listed as a fingering weight yarn but I thought it was more of a light fingering.  

2.  The Pattern:  Julie Hoover's pattern, Goode, was well written and easy to follow.  Front and back were knitted separately, bottom up, and then the two pieces were seamed together.  The last step was to knit the ribbing around the sleeves. That's it. Simple. 

3.  The Problem: The modelled sweater has an ease of 7" and I chose the same ease when picking my size.  I don't know if I picked the incorrect size, the wrong style of sweater for my shape, or my swatch lied to me, but this sweater is huge on me, even the sleeves fall below my elbows.  Maybe if I was six feet tall this sweater could work.  But I am not that tall!   Right now it is sitting in my time out bag, awaiting it's fate.  You would think that after years of knitting I would have figured out that this sweater wasn't going to work for me a little earlier on.  At times like these I think that top down sweaters might be the way to go...you can try them on as you knit.  Sadly, I think I will be frogging it.  The yarn is way too nice to waste.

If this was my first sweater I had ever knit I would be devastated at the thought of frogging it.  However, I have made enough sweaters over the years that it does not bother me as much.  What's a knitter to do?  Pick some other yarn and cast on a new sweater of course!

Happy knitting.


7 comments:

  1. I feel your pain, but understand your solution. I still have a sweater sleeve I need to take off and reknit using 2 strands of 2 skeins to reduce the fact there is a color difference in the skeins!! Same dye lot, so I don't know what happened there.

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    1. That is annoying when that happens. I know it is the right thing to do so that yarn does not go to waste...but I can't do it yet.

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  2. Oh no, how sad. But having a sweater that you won't wear isn't the solution. I find that slightly baggy sweaters are very hard to wear for me, they make me look boxy. I guess there is no way to salvage it if it is knit in pieces because you'd have to go all the way back to the beginning. I hope you'll find the perfect solution or new pattern for your lovely yarn.

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    1. Thanks Corinne....yes boxy does not work for me at all either. Lesson learned : (

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  3. So sorry to hear you have to frog it, but it happened to all of us! And it's definitely better to frog it and make something you will really like than keep this one and never use it.

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  4. I am making this now and have completed the back and have decided I made a mistake on the front in counting decrease rows at the shoulders. I am not coming out with the right count of 13 stiches when the shaping is complete. Anyone have difficulty with size 41 1/2 (page 4) instructions?

    Caroline

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