the blue blog archives: meet my new favorite sweater

Lookie, it's my finished Banff on Safari. Just so we remember what the sweater looked like before.

From silly, poofy thing to legitimate sweater. Right on! This ripping and fixing stuff RULES!

This is another older shop model that I picked up in my LYS's sale bin. It fits me perfectly! When I first saw the sweater on display in the store a couple years ago, I immediately bought the book because I wanted to make one for myself. I never got around to knitting the sweater, but actually I'm glad of that now. I would never have thought to knit the short-sleeved version of the sweater, but it's really comfy to wear. The wool is warm enough that it seems to make up for my arms being bare. It's making me rethink all those charming short-sleeved "vintage" sweater patterns that I discredited in my mind as impractical. Cause I like this one. I really like it.

But what makes me love this sweater so much, besides the fact that I love the pattern and the yarn (Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed), is that I didn't have to knit it. I don't have any family members who knit, which means that there isn't anyone out there ever knitting for me. So it's really cool to have this beautiful handknit sweater that someone else knitted. It makes me feel special somehow.

posted by alison at 8:51 am | in fixit

Comments

Very cute, both of them. I have always shyed away from short-sleeved sweaters too, I get so cold, it just seemed messed up. But some of them are so cute and you could always add a lacy wristlet to add a bit of warmth on the arm.

Posted by: Julia at March 23, 2005 9:23 AM

Hmmmm, that short sleeved sweater does look good on you. And you say it's not impractical? Perhaps I too should reconsider my stance on short sleeved sweaters.

Posted by: cheryl at March 23, 2005 9:26 AM

Both are wonderful. I especially like the Banff on Safari - mostly for those great colors.

And happiness is discovering that you like something you thought you didn't, and it opens a whole new world for you.

Posted by: nanc at March 23, 2005 9:36 AM

Yeah for shop models and re-knits! Enjoy them.

Posted by: Johanna at March 23, 2005 9:39 AM

Isn't the Jo Sharp great next to your skin? LOVE it! Yeah for sweaters you don't have to knit yourself!

Posted by: Cara at March 23, 2005 9:55 AM

For a moment, I thought you had finished the cashmere!

Posted by: claudia at March 23, 2005 10:12 AM

Banff is gorgeous! So nice that you could reclaim and conquer! And with snow coming tonight- perhaps a chance to wear it...
Nice job- per usual!

Posted by: beth at March 23, 2005 10:21 AM

I love Banff !! and the jo sharp seems so soft !!
I received my socks from my Secret Sock Pal - just want to thank you again for the Sockapalooza !

Posted by: karen at March 23, 2005 10:33 AM

Banff looks great. Those sleeves needed serious fixin'. Coco is cute too. I live in short or 3/4 sleeves.

Posted by: Vicki at March 23, 2005 11:18 AM

Wonderful sweaters, Alison. This fixin' stuff is really contagious. I am so pleased the way my red sweater turned out (ripped the collar to lengthen the sleeves)that I ripped my blue "Mary", dyed the yarn in a deeper blue and picked a different pattern! Is that a way to save money on yarn????

Posted by: Ellen at March 23, 2005 11:30 AM

I, too, have to rip my Banff out because the armpits are just too deep. Any advice?

Posted by: mac at March 23, 2005 12:01 PM

Wow, great job on revamping that Banff sweater!

Posted by: reina at March 23, 2005 12:11 PM

I LOVE coco!! I bought that book specifically for that pattern. I'm glad to see it knits up so well--and how awesome that your LYS sells their shop models!! Makes me want to move to your town!

;)

Posted by: tania at March 23, 2005 1:03 PM

Gorgeous Banff! Gorgeous Coco! I can really understand how nice it must be to have something hand knit by someone else. I have always treasured the my gran knit me but so much more so now that I knit myself. I like that sleeve length too, though my favourite is just the other side of the elbow.

Posted by: jo at March 23, 2005 4:18 PM

Very cute. I like the color, the shape, the ribbing, everything.

Posted by: Rebekah at March 23, 2005 5:56 PM

Hi Alison!

Is the Coco sweater knitted from the top down? My favorite style? Cheater style?

Currently afraid of my 4 piece sweater in the making,
kathy b.

Posted by: kathy b. at March 23, 2005 7:01 PM

Banff looks marvelous. I really love that heathery green. (Or at least it looks green on my monitor) Oh, and my sockapalooza socks have been sent!

Posted by: marti at March 23, 2005 8:04 PM

Oh yes, Cara, looooove the Silkroad Tweed. It's so much softer than I could had ever expected.

Kathy, Coco is knit in pieces and then seamed. Sorry!

Mac, decide what armhole depth you want to have, then rework your decreases so you can decrease the same number of stitches but in a shorter amount of time. You might do some K3tog's instead of just K2tog's or decrease on both ends of every row for the beginning, instead of just on one. And unless you want your sweater to be shorter, you should knit a few more inches on the body and the sleeves to make up for the the lost armhole depth. Make sense? Hope it helps a bit. Have fun reworking it. I sure did!!

Posted by: alison at March 23, 2005 9:25 PM

I love what you have done to the Banff sweater. I have not used the pattern because I thought it too big in places (and thus quite unflattering). I would make it if it looked like yours. As for your Coco, I am putting it on my list - I really like the look of the short sleeves.

Posted by: Leanne at March 23, 2005 10:08 PM

any chance you'll be outlining the modifications you made to banff? i ran out of yarn about 5 inches from being done with the raglan decreases even with 1 extra ball. when i tried it on, even though gague was spot on, it was rediculously MASSIVE. i think if i could figure out how to make it fit like yours does, i'd have just enough yarn... :)

Posted by: alice at March 24, 2005 4:39 AM