Friday, May 27, 2016

fo: Daelyn Pullover (aka Accidental Sweater)

fo: Daelyn Pullover
Please allow me to introduce one of my new favourite garments, my Daelyn Pullover aka the Accidental Sweater.  I've been teasing you about this one for a while - I finished it on May 1, it was dry by May 3, took pictures the following weekend and worn it a bunch of times, and am only now getting around to blogging about it.  There's a ton of photos here because I'm in love and I couldn't weed them out.  No regrets.

Pattern: Daelyn Pullover, by Isabell Kraemer
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Needles: 4 mm and 4.5 mm
Size: 38.5" at neckline, grading to 41" at the bust with a bit of extra stitches here and there
My Ravelry Project Page

I'm so excited to have finally knit one of Isabell Kraemer's patterns.  That woman creates some of the most gorgeous sweaters, and I need to make more.  The pattern itself was relatively easy (other than the short rows at the neck, which nearly defeated me), and it was just so lovely to knit.
fo: Daelyn Pullover
I'm particularly pleased about the fit of this sweater.  Raglan sleeves can be difficult with a larger bust - since pattern designers just have you keep doing raglan increases until you get the bust width you need, but often the armpits wind up closer to you waistline than your armpit.  Annoying.  There's a mod I usually use to help alleviate this, but it sort of worked/sort of failed this time.  More on that later.

Anyways, this pattern seems to avoid some of the pitfalls of a larger size raglan sweater, though I'm not sure if I can put my finger on the why just yet.  It might have something to do with the
fo: Daelyn Pullover
I only did two mods on this sweater, and the first worked out really well.  This is supposed to be a boxy sweater, but boxy doesn't always work so well on me.  Especially with a snugger waistband.  I have a prominent butt, which tends to cause fabric to pool at the small of my back.  To eliminate that, I added two darts to the back of the sweater about 1/3 of the way from each side.  See how it shapes the back nicely?
fo: Daelyn Pullover
It's so hard to see the darts with the garter stitch though.  I marked the location on the left side, and tried to point it out on the right with an arrow.  Can you see them?
fo: Daelyn Pullover
Yeah, I barely can.  It sure does make a nice smooth and shaped back though.  The front is still boxy (maybe too boxy) but the back is just lovely.
fo: Daelyn Pullover
The second mod was to add some width at the bust without having to continue the raglan increases, and I did that by casting on more stitches at the sleeve divide.  I've done this before, and it usually works out.  In this case, it didn't so much.  Oh, it gave me the width I needed for the bust, but it also gave me way too much fabric in the whole area.  See how the fabric gets pushed away from the underarm area when my arms are down?  Classic example of too much fabric at the bottom of the arm scyth (?? I'm too lazy to look up the spelling here).
fo: Daelyn Pullover
See what it does to the front?  I get these big folds of excess fabric in front of the armpit.  Oops.  Ah well, I don't actually care.  Live and learn.
fo: Daelyn Pullover
One of the little details I love in this pattern is how it has you do the finishing.  All ribbing ends with a row of knit stitches, then bound off knit-wise.  That leaves this pretty straight line of stitches at the end of the ribbing, like on the sleeves above.  It's a pretty little detail that I'm in love with.
fo: Daelyn Pullover
The pattern also has you do some short rows at the back of the sweater before starting the ribbing (you can see how the ridges are truncated by the ribbing along the right side).  This is to give a bit more length at the back, since garter stitch tends to be shorter than stockinette.

fo: Daelyn Pullover
Man, I just love the simplicity of this sweater.  Really makes the contrasting texture of the garter stitch (ridgey bit) and stockinette stitch (flat bit), and the lovely heathered yarn, sing.

fo: Daelyn Pullover
I think the only thing that I'm not pleased with this sweater (other than all that extra fabric above the bust, but that's not the patterns fault at all) is how high the neckline is.  I'm not used to necklines this high, so I find it a bit...constricting? against my throat.  But it's not too bad, and I'll just keep that in mind for the next sweater.  I think this pattern would look really good with a v-neck though, and I might have to consider knitting this pattern again in the future with that mod!

fo: Daelyn Pullover
And I'm hauling it along with us to Haines Alaska this weekend.  Which we're leaving for in...1 hour and I still have to pack and shower and figure out what knitting I'm bringing.  We have tickets to beer fest there (YAY!!), and you never know if you'll need a cozy warm woolen sweater while adventuring/sampling all the beer!

8 comments:

  1. It looks so good! I love the back darts, it really makes the sweater hang on you so well :) I love this pattern so much, you're tempting me to knit one now. Have fun in Haines!

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    1. Haha you should knit one, it's lovely! Fastest sweater I've even knit too. Probably only a few weeks of actual knitting, which is light-speed for me.

      I'm pretty pleased with the back mods, if I do say so myself. :)

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  2. It just look so cosy and artisany and I totally get the squee factor fo the textures and stitches. Lovely!

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  3. A really nice knit - the darts really do improve the fit. I'm amazed at how you can alter patterns so easily. Enjoy your trip...

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    1. Thanks! I think it comes from the sewing background. I know what probably needs to be modified, so I consider what changes I'd have to make to the garment and do it in progress (instead of ahead of time with sewing). :)

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  4. You nailed this one, Heather. I wouldn't have noticed the extra fabric at the armpit if you hadn't pointed it out. I tend to love oversized sweaters, and they usually have extra fabric everywhere, so maybe I'm not the best judge of fit. The color is classic and looks so great on you! I now feel like dropping all my test knits and everything else and knitting an Isabell Kraemer patterns. Why you do dis to me?!!!!

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm pretty chuffed about this one, especially considering how quickly (and accidentally) it fell off the needles. Love the colour - it's so easy to wear. I really enjoyed the pattern too, and I definitely want to knit another one of hers.

      I actually felts like this was a Michelle pattern while making it - it seems like the type of pattern you would knit and pull off super well (with lots of ease, of course!)

      Oversized sweaters look great on you! Usually not so well on me (but that depends on the fabric and the design - I've loving oversized sweaters that fit well through the arms, shoulders and upper bust). I know no one else would probably notice the extra folds of fabric, but I did and I know exactly why it happened, so I thought I'd share. Plus I really need to stop being so lazy and do a proper width adjustment at the bust instead of doing this half-assed methods (which, to be fair, can work if the pattern only gives you a few stitches at the sleeve divide - no so much when they give you more than 8 to begin with).

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