F.O. Old Romance by Joji Locatelli

Pattern:  Old Romance

Old Romance

Designer:  Joji Locatelli

Yarn:  Sweet Fiber Yarns Cashmerino 20 (70% merino, 20% cashmere 10% nylon)

Colourway:  Verve

Sweet Fiber Yarns Cashmerino 20

Yarn:  Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light  (100% merino)

Colourway:  Cathedral

Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light

Needles:  3.5mm and 3.0mm

Ravelry:  my notes

Added Notes:

1. I enjoyed the unique construction of knitting Japan Sleeves by Joji Locatelli three years ago, and I decided I wanted to repeat the fun, and knit the cardigan version of the pattern.  I finally got around to it, and started the lace inserts on January 1, 2018.  I don't usually take four months to complete a sweater, but this is one of those patterns that I would pick up and add a few rows now and again, while I worked on other projects.  The first step for this pattern is to knit the lace for the sleeves and this took me quite a bit of time.  After construction of the lace strips Joji has you cleverly join both to create the sleeves. 

Construction of the sleeves

However, that's where the fun ended for me.  After the sleeves were constructed the remainder of the sweater is knit in stockinette and I felt that it went on forever.  My only modification was to knit the body two inches shorter than suggested in the pattern.  With blocking the cardigan grew a couple inches so the length ended up perfect for me.

2.  I was lucky to get Sweet Fiber's Verve colourway during one of the shop updates.  I first spotted this colourway on a trip to Victoria to the Beehive Wool Shop and saw a shop sample of Viajante by Martina Behm knit in this gorgeous shade of purple.  Unfortunately, it is no longer listed as one of the colourways that Sweet Fiber dyes.

3.  I usually stay away from variegated yarn when knitting lace but I am pleased with the result.  However, I find that the Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light pills quite a bit and my lace inserts are no exception.  I have knit a few sweaters with this yarn and they all pill. And for that reason, I have learned that I prefer to knit sweaters with plied yarn, not single ply.

4.  The boredom I experienced while knitting the body was forgotten when I tried on the sweater.  This is an open cardigan that will be perfect to slip on top of whatever I am wearing.  The cashmere content in the Sweet Fiber Yarns makes a super soft fabric and since it is a fingering weight it will be worn year round. My conclusion is that it was definitely worth it!

WIPs: Hamble, Stronachlachar, and Old Romance

Every now and then I go through my large Ravelry queue, and try to reduce the number of patterns in it.  I find this quite challenging as there are so many amazing patterns which have stood the test of time.  Of course, I am also tempted by new designs that crop up daily, and so my queue just grows and grows.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Recently I seem to be obsessed with knitting sweaters.  Instead of casting on just one sweater, I have cast on three!  Two are newly published, and the third has been in my queue for a long time.  And the best thing...all are knit from stash yarn.

1.  Hamble:  I am a long time fan of Isabell Kraemer and have found that her patterns fit me well, and tend to get worn quite a bit (see Aibrean, Mailin, and Seashore).  I could not resist Hamble, Isabell Kraemer's newest pattern knit in Rosy Green Wool Cheeky Merino Joy, a sport weight yarn.  I had the perfect yarn in my stash.  On my trip to Nashville in the fall, I picked up three different coloured skeins of Rosy Green Wool from Haus of Yarn, to knit a shawl.  Only one skein was needed for the top of the Hamble body so I used one of the colourways I had called Edelweiss. In my stash I also had some O-Wool O-Wash Sport yarn.  These two yarns work perfectly together.  Although I love both yarns, I found that Rosy Wool is one of those yarns that I kept squishing as I knit.  Rosy Green Wool definitely lives up to the hype.   (I found out that O-Wool carries Rosy Green Wool if you are interested in trying a skein).  Here's my progress so far: 

Rosy Green Wool Cheeky Merino Joy in Edelweiss
O-Wash O-Wool Sport in Cuckoo Flower

Pigeonroof Yarns Silky High Twist Sock in Railroad Stake

2.  Another new pattern that I cast on as soon as it was published is Stronachlar, part of the West Highland Way collection, by Kate Davies.    If you haven't had the chance to look at this collection of patterns I highly recommend it.  I had the perfect yarn in my stash for this pattern, about 900m of a DK weight wool called West Yorkshire Spinners Blue Faced Leicester DK.  I love the look of the simple cables and, if I can finish Stronachlachar soon, it will be the perfect spring sweater to throw on top of a blouse.  

West Yorkshire Spinners Bue Faced Leicester DK

3.  Since the beginning of the year I have been slowly working on Old Romance, a fingering weight cardigan, by Joji Locatelli that was published four years ago.  The pattern starts with two identical lace strips that become part of the sleeves.  I decided to knit both lace inserts at the same time.  Each day I slowly added a few rows until I knit the 27.5" required and then the fun began. This cardigan has a similar construction to Joji's Japan Sleeves, as the lace panels are knit first, and once done provide the foundation for the sleeves.  The interesting construction keeps me entertained, but as it is a fingering weight sweater it will take me some time to complete.  See my Ravelry notes here.

The pattern begins by knitting two lace panels
knit in Madelinetosh Light in the colourway Cathedral

The next step is to join the pieces and create the two arms and neck
Sweet Fiber Yarns Cashmerino 20 in colourway Verve

If only there were more hours in a day!  The trouble with knitting three sweaters at the same time is that it never looks like I have made much progress.  However I will remain hopeful that I will have three new sweaters to wear this spring.  Wish me luck!