Summer Silk Sweater

Silk Tweed Yarn.

Beautiful forest green with flecks of blue and light green.  In The Stash for too long.

#14 Leaf Yoke Top by Angela Hahn, Vogue.

The pattern selected had a beautiful leaf lace yoke but was a sleeveless top knit in a much smaller gauge.  Revising the yoke required much math and regraphing.  The sleeves and body were estimated (and then knit, unraveled, re-estimated and knit again).

Yoke Lace Detail

The yoke lace pattern is stunning even at this gauge (aran weight yarn and size 9 US needles).

The yarn is somewhat “crunchy” so it creates well defined stitches and yarn overs (the lace “holes”).

Leaf Lace Detail

The sweater is designed and knit as a “top-down” sweater.  I don’t know who thought of the top-down sweater knitting method – but they get my vote for The Nobel Prize in Knitting Methodologies.

In top-down knitting, the sweater is started at the neck and knit towards the hem, separating sleeves from the body at the appropriate point.  This method allows for simple revisions to body and sleeve length.

I started with a provisional cast-on just above the garter stitch row on the neckline and then knit the lace yoke downward.  Returning to the neck edge, I then knit the neck ribbing from the yoke upward. The neck ribbing took 3 tries.  The same “crunchiness” that provided the beautiful stitch definition in the lace pattern of the yoke, required needles 5 sizes smaller to create a viable ribbing.

As this was a fit-as-you-knit sweater, judging the proper location of the sleeve separation required the neckline be completed. Without the ribbing, the neckline was several inches larger and lower – which would have placed the sleeve separation very differently.  After completing the ribbing, more math and recalculating and then the body of the sweater was knit from the yoke downwards (unraveled, recalculated and reknit).

Cardigan Buttons

The cardigan closes with buttons from The Stash.  The buttons are a copper metal with a glass diamond center.  The glass in an olive green which coordinates nicely with the greens in the yarn.

At some point in the future, fashion will dictate a return to longer cardigans. The two remaining skeins of yarn may then be used to lengthen the body of the sweater.  In the meantime, the two skeins will be returned to The Stash.