Pattern: Avena by Knit Love Wool
Size knit: H
Cast on: December 21, 2021
Blocked and finished: January 7, 2022
Yarn: Berroco Vintage, main colour Smoke, 1,300 yards; contract colour Tide Pool, 200 yards
Yarn weight: worsted
I decided to give Berroco Vintage yarn a try, after hearing great things about it. It's an acrylic/wool/nylon blend and while I was a little on the fence about the acrylic part, the wool component is substantial enough that it blocked just fine. I ordered a sweater quantity in worsted and in DK {DK for the Kuutar Pullover}. The yarn comes in skeins and was easy to wind up, definitely a plus. I'm annoyed at skeins that are a pain in the ass to wind. It is definitely on the heavy side of worsted, close to an aran weight. If I had known that before, I would have gone with a lighter worsted, like Malabrigo Rios.
This was my first sweater {I knit a few t-shirts last summer} and the first colourwork. The colourwork yoke is definitely plump with the heavy worsted, I would not do that again. It knit up nicely and I managed to keep the floats loose {and caught anything that was more than 5 stitches}. The yoke was very enjoyable to knit and the pattern is well-written.
I knit a gauge swatch before starting to knit and that worked out well, but with the heavy gauge and the aggressive blocking the yoke required I could have gone down a size and still have enough ease. {I knit a size H and could have gone with a size G.} The fit before blocking was definitely better than after, I need to remember that for the next sweater. It's an art, I guess.
I increased the stitch count for the arms and made them about 20" in circumference (pattern was 17") because I hate tight-fitting sleeves. I also made the body about 2.5" longer and the sleeves a bit shorter and all in all I'm happy with the fit, but due to the aggressive blocking the collar is a bit wide - I should have kept that a bit tighter. It annoys me when the bra straps are showing.
This will be an excellent winter sweater because it's sooooo warm. It's definitely not a lounging-around-the-house sweater, unless your house is not heated in the winter.
On to the next project, the Kuutar Pullover!
