FO: Mmmalabrigo Jacket
Um… am I missing the point of NaKniSweMo if I finish in 10 days?
Pattern: Drops Jacket in blah blah long name purple monkey dishwasher, modified up the wazoo
Size: Small (roughly)
Yarn: MMMMMMMMalabrigo merino worsted in Cinnabar, every last little scrap of 4 skeins
Needles: US 9
Here’s a brighter pic, but it shows less details. This sweater doesn’t like to be photographed, apparently. I don’t like to be photographed either, but I’m still on a “no more headless pics!” mission.
So. 10 days. Wait, what? Granted, I did all my pattern reworking, and swatching, and blah dee blah before November. That’s allowed, right? Didn’t cast on until November 1st, though, and finished last Saturday. I haven’t blogged it until now because it took FOUR DAYS TO DRY. Which worked out fine, since I wasn’t able to go button-shopping until yesterday anyway, but still.
I’ll forgive the sweater, though, because I loooooove it.
Yeah, it ate all my yarn, but I had just enough to finish. And I mean just enough. I kept going back and forth between the sleeves and the body, monitoring how much yarn everything was eating. I do not recommend this. Yes, you can make this sweater (in size small, with some modifications) with 4 skeins of Malabrigo. However, you will go mad in the process. Is it worth it? Huh? Is it?
(I already went mad long ago, so what do I care?)
Whether you take the path of sanity or not, make this sweater. It’s yummy. I was very wary of the idea of an A-line sweater, but it works, it does sort of a ruffly thing at the bottom instead of making you look like a giant umbrella.
Yeah, I modified the crap out of mine, but all the unmodified ones on Ravelry look great too, on all sorts of body types. Make it! Make it now! It only takes 10 days!*
* If you’re a lunatic.
So. About the modifications. As written, it’s a bottom-up sweater knit in pieces. I made it as a seamless top-down raglan. And then I got a whooole bunch of messages asking for details on how to do that. Here’s the thing. I took really sparse, messy notes. Mostly they are a bunch of numbers scribbled in my sketchbook. And then I ignored or changed half of those numbers on the fly when I actually made the thing. So no, I cannot rewrite this pattern for you as a top-down raglan, unless I start over from scratch and do it, and I’m not gonna, because I hate writing patterns.
But!
I’ve seen a lot of people on Ravelry and elsewhere trying to turn standard sweater patterns into top-down raglans, whether it’s because they like raglans, or like knitting top-down, or hate seaming, or whatever. So I’m thinking I might write up a tutorial on how to do just that. With any pattern, in general, not necessarily this one. Is there any interest in that sort of thing?
Other mods… let’s see. I left out the 2×2 ribbing at the bottom because I couldn’t figure out why it was there and it looked funny; just went straight to the garter stitch (which was enough to stop any curling). I ignored pretty much everything the pattern said to do with the sleeves. I made the bottom edge smaller than the pattern wanted, because the numbers seemed huuuuge; I think I took off about 4 inches from that measurement. I tweaked lots of the numbers slightly, like, by 2 stitches or so, little things that aren’t really worth documenting and are mostly just me being a control freak.
And then there was the collar. I’d heard horror stories about this collar, and with good reason. I read the instructions for the collar and went “WTF?” I read them again, and got it, but then went “WTF? Why are they doing it that way? Why seam the edges when you can just pick up extra stitches as you go?” So I did. And it seems to have worked out fine. By the way, picking up stitches along a curved edge SUUUUUCKS.
Like the buttons?
I found those within a few minutes of entering the store, then spent a zillion years looking at every damn button in the store, only to go right back to those in the end. It figures.
So. I guess that’s NaKniSweMo all done. I picked something quick and easy to take the pressure off, but I guess I should have picked something slow and impossibly difficult. This wasn’t masochism, it was fun! This is all wrong! Where’s my standard November pain and suffering?
Well, my next project is the Back to School Vest from Fitted Knits, and I hear it’s crawling with errata and weird increases. That sounds promising in the masochism department…
You always finished nanowrimo really early, too. Now have plenty of time to make *me* a sweater!
14 Nov 2007 at 9:31 pmLooks great! Gorgeous colour.
14 Nov 2007 at 10:31 pm… that is beautiful. I’m not goign to go on like usual. It looks fantastic. I’ve been eyeing this pattern for a bit. I think it’s time for a yarn mission!
15 Nov 2007 at 12:18 amGreat job! I like your version much better than the original.
Yes, please do a bottom-up-to-top-down-raglan tutorial. Please? Please?
15 Nov 2007 at 2:00 amCan you include instructions for how to knit an entire sweater in 10 days without completely giving up sleeping? Or is THAT how you do it after all…
15 Nov 2007 at 6:09 amI’m knitting the back to school vest currently, and it goes pretty fast. the ten or so inches of 2×2 ribbing are mindnumbing. I think i finally got to a point where the eratta is needed, but instead of looking it up- i just put it aside in favor of the new Stich and Bitch book. Good luck with yours!
15 Nov 2007 at 9:53 amStunning.. I’m especially wowed by the brightness of that orange! It’s beautiful!
I put “4 skeins of Malabrigo” on my wish list for Christmas this year. It seems all I want is stuff that has to be ordered online – and my family sucks at that. Usually I compromise by writing a lot of stuff that can be bought at stores on the list too, but this year? ALL online! ;) So I’ll actually get something I *want* this year..
(sorry grandma)
I so want to make that jacket too… :( soon! Christmas knitting, begone!!
15 Nov 2007 at 10:26 amIt’s gorgeous, I love it! I want to run out and by Malabrigo right now.
15 Nov 2007 at 11:39 am“Is there any interest in this sort of thing?”
Ummmm…. YUP!!! Please!
15 Nov 2007 at 11:40 amWow — that is absolutely gorgeous! Perfect color, perfect construction, perfect fit. Oh my gosh I have to have one NOW.
15 Nov 2007 at 12:12 pmI love it. And, yes a tutorial on converting to top down would be great.
15 Nov 2007 at 1:56 pmwow, that took you like three seconds. thats awesome. I love converting EVERYTHING into top-down raglan. I use the custom fit raglan sweater pattern (I made an excel document to do all the math for me!) for just about every sweater-related thing. mmmmmmm seamless = delicious.
15 Nov 2007 at 3:09 pmand I may have to make this, especially if I win that cone of cashmere on ebay =D
Ohh, that looks so soft and squishy and comfy. Great job, and great speed!
15 Nov 2007 at 6:27 pmIt’s lovely – the color is really beautiful and it suits you well.
15 Nov 2007 at 8:07 pmAbsolutely Gorgeous! and the colour is Stunning on you! Great knit, your needles must be smokin’ now.
16 Nov 2007 at 3:38 pmgorgeous! mmm.. malabrigo is amazing.
i’m doing the exact same thing with this sweater. seeing your beautiful finished sweater give me hope that mine will be o.k. :)
16 Nov 2007 at 10:24 pmI’m interested in your directions for turning a pattern into a top-down raglan! Your sweater looks great.
Ann :D
17 Nov 2007 at 2:45 am“Drops Jacket in blah blah long name purple monkey dishwasher”
This has to be the funniest link name ever!
The sweater is beautiful. :)
17 Nov 2007 at 11:36 amWow, the sweater looks absolutely gorgeous!
I’d be *very* interested in a top-down raglan tutorial. :)
17 Nov 2007 at 4:12 pmMmme likey. Really likey. Really want to make it. And really looking forward to your little tutorial.
Random question: do you have Thanksgiving in Canada?
19 Nov 2007 at 10:32 ambeautiful! The color is perfect on you.
20 Nov 2007 at 3:55 pmWhat an awesome sweater. It looks perfect and totally worth the pain to convert it!
Good for you.
21 Nov 2007 at 12:32 pmHaha, for how much you say you love that sweater and that yarn, you look really unhappy. :) Must have been the disappearing of your Malabrigo. But look at it like this: you didn’t lose yarn; you gained a sweater.
23 Nov 2007 at 4:03 pmIt looks great finished with the shorter sleeves! Good mods for not enough yarn.
25 Nov 2007 at 10:33 pmWe have the exact same taste in patterns. That’s probably why I read your blog. The jacket looks fabulous. I love the color, and the yarn looks like heaven.
26 Nov 2007 at 9:19 amWow! That is a beautiful sweater! :)
10 Jan 2008 at 2:08 pm