FO: Riding on the Metro

A lot of times in my knitting I try to follow patterns as closely as possible.  I've even been known to use the exact yarn down to the exact colors in the pattern photos.  Sometimes in knitting you just need to go with what has been proven to work.  And then sometimes you have to challenge everything.  Take this sweater for example.  Alex Tinsley's Northern Line is a gorgeous sweater with a contrast hem knit in yummy Malabrigo.  While I absolutely love it, it is not necessarily a good idea to wear a wool short sleeved sweater in 95 degree heat with crazy high humidity.  So instead I substituted a cotton blend and ended up changing almost the entire pattern.

 

I don't know what made me think that using a cotton and plant fiber blend (Knit Picks Shine Worsted) would knit up the same as the Malabrigo, but at first I actually cast on for a larger size.  After realizing the neckline could fall almost completely off of my body I ripped back and cast on a smaller size.  Then I tried it on when I split for sleeves and it was still way too big.  The sleeves started essentially at the waist line.  So I ripped it back again and took off the sleeves where it felt natural.  And it worked!

And then, high on my sleeve success I decreased for the waist at a much faster rate but only until it felt like the right place.  And it worked again!  Clearly I was on to something so I continued to go with what felt natural.  My last modification came when I realized that the turned neckline did not work as well as the rolled eyelet band that was its setup, so I left it and knit the hem to look the same as the sleeves.

I am thrilled with my success, and have determined to never knit a heavily modified sweater again.  I think I'll go back to knitting replicas of pattern photos.  It's far less stressful.

For more less stressful FOs, check out the gang at Tami's Amis.