Pattern: Hitchcock by tincanknitsYarn: Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Worsted
Colour: Teal
Needle: 4mm and 5mm Round Needles
Start of project: September 25th , 2015
End of project: October 30th, 2015
On Ravelry
Andreas (my ex-husband) has asked me to knit him a pullover for a while. With his rather slim build and with very long arms it's often difficult for him to find tops that fit in both width and length.
In Pom Pom Quarterly - Issue 14 - Fall 2015 we saw this lovely sweater - Hitchcock - that both of us liked. We decided not to go with the original yarn but went for the other worsted yarn from the same vendor - Natural Colors Merino Worsted.
Once it arrived I kind of knew that there might be trouble ahead. All the skeins had really noticable differences in shade and as soon as I started knitting I noticed how much colour this yarn would lose - my hands very totally stained blue everytime I took up my needles and the colour ended up on everything I wore and even on my sofa. The colour came off ok, but it wasn't cool to knit with because even my face got blue from where I'd touch it with my fingers.
At first I tried to knit it the way it was written in the pattern. But all that reverse stockinette really hurt my hands and the fabric also turned out quite uneven, something that never happens with stockinette. That's when I remembered reading somewhere about a similar pattern that had been knit inside out and I decided to give it a try. I asked around on the pompom forum on ravelry and was told the same, that it shouldn't be a problem knitting it on the wrong side and then change to the right side once the body and the sleeves were all attached together and the sweater was divided for the collar. And I am soo glad I took the risk, because it was very easy and logical and I am sure it looks so much neater now.
The colour kept frustrating me, especially the parts where I tried knitting with alternate skeins. It's actually stripey there. But Andreas kept insisting that he liked it anyway and so I kept going. In the end I like the result, I love the way it looks, the fit is great and I think those are just the perfect buttons for it, but I am still not happy with that yarn and wouldn't buy it again. I only hope that it won't lose much more colour when worn over a t-Shirt.
Oh, Corinne! This is just stunning! The color and the fit look perfect! And you are so brave to knit for a man! :) I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!
ReplyDeleteThank you! There was no danger of jinxing anything, after all we are already divorced ;-). It took quite a lot of time but other than that I was ok to knit it and I might even do it again...
DeleteI love Hitchcock! It makes me think of a favorite sweater I wore in my twenties. I thought the slight striping was on purpose, it really does look cool. But the bleeding and mismatched skeins isn't cool. I'd be disappointed, too. I'm so glad you tried inside out knitting, because I was thinking about trying that on a reverse stockinette sweater sometime, but wasn't sure how it would work out. Now I know! Ive thought about (one day far in the future) knitting a Hitchcock for my husband and one for me. Not matching colors, just matching pattern. I'll be tucking your inside-out idea away for when I do.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great pattern. The striping doesn't bother me that much anymore, but it did while knitting, because I knew the different colours were going to be a problem and I tried to handle it carefully and somehow it felt as if I failed. The yarn itself is quite a nightmare, especially at the very high price of 32 dollars per skein...
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