Long overdue
Pattern: Pull empiecement rond #257 by Bergere de France, with my modifications
Yarn: Cascade Pastaza (100g; 132 yards; 50% Llama, 50% Wool) in #007 Medium Grey
Needles: US8 and 9
Here it is, my cabled yoke pullover. Finally. Posted.
I'd finished this last year, and even taken pictures of it, but there was just never time. Soon after the holidays we went to Turkey, then Greece, then we moved to France. I'm writing this post from our Provençale house, mid-July, having scheduled it for publishing in mid-August. These pictures take me back to deep winter in Bavaria. It snowed there quite a few times, and we always had to wear tons of fleecey layers every time we stepped out.
Walk with me.
Beyond Hersbruck, to Happurger Wand. It's a hiker's trail that leads to a limestone cliff (yes, for climbing) at the top of a hill overlooking Happurg. It's an easy hike, and we stopped frequently to take pictures. Snow absorbed all the sound, except for the creaking of the trees, and I thought it was appropriate to whisper.
I made the sweater loose because I wanted to be able to wear something underneath it. (Pastaza isn't very soft.) I wore a long-sleeve silk tee in addition to my fleece top. As well, I had fleece underwear under those jeans. (It was cold!) The sweater accommodated all those without looking terribly bulky.
The rolled hem is a alternative to ribbing. The BdF designer cleverly solved the issue of excessive rolling by adding a bit of ribbing. Nice touch.
The neckline at the back hangs a bit low because I didn't use any short rows here. The pattern called for short-rows just before doing the cabled yoke, so if you were to make this, I'd recommend following that part of the pattern.
I've already discussed the pattern at length, so I'll talk about the yarn. Pastaza is a single-spun yarn, meaning it's not plied. It's a combination of llama and wool loosely twisted around each other. If you look at Pastaza's product page, you'll see what I mean. The intention of the loose ply was to keep the single balanced, but that also means that some fibers will untwist themselves out eventually. The yarn shed a lot in the yoke due to cabling, but behaved well in plain stockinette. It seems that Pastaza works better in stockinette or simple knit-purl textures, not so with cables or other textures that put more stress on the yarn. Next time I knit this, I'll use a multiple-ply yarn.
Blogworthy:
1: Eisbär Flocke has a blog! Actually, she has two! I think this poster (headline says "Knut was yesterday") is cute but crass, because they're obviously peddling her for money. Gah! Let's not even go into a discussion about that.
2: Over at DeputyDog, 11 phenomenal images of the Earth.
Fits you like a dream, MJ! Beautiful sweater for a beautiful lady.
Gorgeous sweater.
The sweater is even more gorgeous than the landscape!
This is stunning! I love the detail of the yoke, and it looks so great in this multitonal gray. Very nice fit and silhouette. Great work~
I'm so freaking jealous...Provence!!! I've always wanted to go there.
Sounds like you're having a wonderful, if not cold, time. the sweater turned out great, that's too bad about the yarn though.
it turned out so great! And you totally can't tell you have all those layers on underneath. The scenery, too - beauty all around!
Great sweater! I've used Pastaza for a throw with some textured stitches. It seemed to hold up okay but of course I gave it away so I'm not sure how it's handling the wear. The yarn is too hot for my climate to use for garments.
Thanks for taking us on a lovely walk!
I absolutely LOVE this sweater. Nice work!