FO #6: Chinese lace pullover

[flexagon]

I have show-and-tell today: I finished knitting another sweater. This one took only half the time my last one took, going from yarn to done in a speedy 3.5 months. :) It's made of 100% bamboo, which is heavy, shiny and drapey... I love how it feels when it's on.





All pictures of the project
Detailed FO post in my knitting blog

I like my general policy of only posting finished objects to LJ, but, obviously, sweaters do not just spring full-formed from my forehead every few months. I spend a fair bit of time on this, not just knitting but also reading stitch dictionaries, design books, Ravelry, and, lately, a lot of graph paper.

My next project is special, a self-designed Aran sweater... which, not incidentally, is what I started knitting for. I just didn't know when I started that it would take me a year and a half to work up to making such a thing, much less that tons of people knit for many years without ever feeling up for it.

Fools and engineers rush in where angels fear to tread, right? Swatching has begun. FO post in, oh, probably a year.

Comments

[niralth.livejournal.com]

Lookin' good. I hope the bamboo works out for you.

I'm designing a custom aran-ish sweater for Mc right now. He wants tons of cables, I want it to be a bit modern with interesting this and that. This is all made much more complicated by the probably too thin yarn this will be made from: a one kilo spool of DK weight alpaca from Peru.

[flexagon]

Very cool. Too-thin yarn is great for being able to fit a lot of cables onto a sweater... I know a woman who's knitting a gansey on size 2s. :) I will probably knit a sweater for heisenbug for our seventh anniversary (traditional present: wool or iron) but I have some time before that.

Do you have any specific concerns about the bamboo? I sized this with the intent that it would stretch out somewhat, and stretching is the main problem I was aware of, heading in.

[niralth.livejournal.com]

Just the stretching, yeah. What was it about the bamboo fiber that made you want to use it instead of wool? (Just curious, since other than for baby items I always knit with wool)

[flexagon]

OK, all good then.

I had a few reasons. First, this is a 3/4 sleeve light sweater not really meant for winter (the design specifies cotton). I have a bamboo t-shirt that I really like. And lastly, originally I was doing this as a knitalong (same pattern, same yarn) with my friend Chia, who used this yarn for a different sweater and loved it.

Lastly, bamboo feels really nice and cool in the hands and on the lap, for summer knitting. I must say, I got used to the smoothness -- I'm back to wool now, and some of the coarser stuff feels like knitting Velcro. :)

[birdofparadox.livejournal.com]

That's FABULOUS!

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

I love the sweater! It's beautiful and I especially like the batteau neckline.

[nevers.livejournal.com]

this looks so good that it inspires me to knit sweaters! so many of the hand-knit sweaters i see are bulky and don't drape, but this looks like it fits great. i would also love to solve the problem wherein storebought sweaters are either too tight in the armpits or too frumpy/unisex. once i relearn how to knit and maybe try a more modest project or two to get confident, i may come to you for shaping-for-muscles advice.

[flexagon]

this looks so good that it inspires me to knit sweaters!

sorry for not responding earlier -- NICEST COMMENT EVER. If you get into this you'll find that the math isn't very hard. :)

[savage-rose.livejournal.com]

It looks awesome! I'm so jealous of your talent for knittery!

Although I did earn the nickname "MacGuyver" tonight from Curtis when I fixed my heartrate watch, possibly saving us $50 if we can return the new one. So we each have our own talents. :)