Project Roundup, Part 2

Or, Not Cobblestone

Whatever did happen to that Cobblestone sweater, after all? I started this eons ago (January, actually), and it’s been in time out for awhile. You all know what it’s supposed to look like, right? Here’s a link, in case you’ve been living under a rock. Many fine knitters have made this sweater, and I think it looks great on nearly every one of them.

Here’s the rub, though. Most of those fine knitters have made this sweater for men, as the pattern designer planned it. Here’s another great example, by Tiennie, for her husband. Now for women? Not so many great ones. Hardly any, in fact, and I didn’t really think much about this when I started the pattern. Here’s one, by Lynda, that proves me wrong, though hers is modified as well, and quite lovely. Anyway, I just wanted to knit it, and it was time for a nice wooly sweater for me, and that was that. I didn’t take into consideration that this might not be so flattering on a woman, especially a woman with, shall we say, voluptuous curves in the top half.

This thing is knitted all in the round, in plain stockinette up to the underarms, with a wide garter strip for the side “seams”, then in garter stitch for a round yoke. That garter edge falls right at the “boobage” line, not such a great idea for those of us with a generous front porch. I got all the way to that point, decided that this wouldn’t be a good idea, and decided to drop that garter line down to where my waist would be, if I had a waist. Rip rip rip. Reknit, reknit, reknit.

I kept looking at this and looking at this. All those miles of garter stitch in a round yoke, even with the line of demarcation dropped lower, are going to do nothing but accentuate that front porch even more. This is a nice idea if you’re selling your house, not so much if you want a flattering sweater. It was time for some rethinking.

I’ve decided to keep the bottom half of the sweater as it’s written, up to the armpits. I’m dumping the round garter stitch yoke, and going with a raglan style knit all in stockinette, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman. This has required some serious consulting of a couple of her books, and a little math work with paper and pencil to rewrite the rest of the pattern. I’m also re-doing the sleeves. As they are written, the cuffs are very wide, with a circumference of twelve inches. My wrists
are six inches around (the only skinny part of me, and I’m damned proud of them, thank you). So while I had the EZ books out, I used her method of calculating sleeve stitches.

Rip rip rip. Out came all that garter stuff in the round that I had reknit. I’m now back up to the armpits, and I’ve started the first sleeve. I might just have this done for winter!

I will tell you that I love this yarn completely. It’s Classic Elite’s Skye Tweed, and I have no flipping idea why they discontinued it. Even after ripping and reknitting, ripping and reknitting, the stuff looks brand new. This sweater should wear like a champ, if I ever finish it. I just wish I’d bought a couple more sweaters worth of it while I was shopping.

Next time, Project Roundup Part 3, the latest lace project.

Author: Lorette

My name is Lorette. I learned to knit in 1999, and took up spinning in 2009. I'm a physician specializing in internal medicine, and live in the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy my blog!

13 thoughts on “Project Roundup, Part 2”

  1. hats off to you for the, errrr ,”not” cobblestone.
    the color is wonderful.
    and I am still laughing over the front porch analogy.

  2. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I love Skye Tweed, too, and was so sad when they discontinued it. I never managed to get a sweater’s worth, but I have a few balls in the stash, waiting for the perfect project. :0)

  3. Very funny, but so difficult about the style parts. I’m curious to see what the FO will look like. Wide sleeves are for a later generation, I think.

  4. You get mega points for perseverance! I think I would have just had a hissy fit and frogged the whole thing. However, you right – that yarn is gorgeous!

  5. Bravo to you for re-knitting it 3 times! You obviously really want a Cobblestone… or maybe you can call it Pebbles. I didn’t know they discontinued Skye Tweed! I haven’t even had a chance to try it yet for Pete’s sake!

  6. When I looked at that sweater, it was love at first sight, but DH won’t wear sweaters (or any kind of top) that pull over his head, and DS told me he has enough sweaters (how deluded is that!). So I thought of it for me, but I’m rather ample as well, and I doubted if I could manage to fix the sweater so it would show off (or disguise, more precisely) my chest. It will be interesting to see what you do.
    Before I read your sentence about Skye Tweed being discontinued, I thought “there’s a yarn for me”. I have rich maroon and camel embedded in my brain as a combination I’d like in an outfit. The pants are hanging in my closet waiting for the maroon sweater. I guess I’ll keep looking.

  7. Thanks for the nice compliment on my hubby’s cobblestone! I can’t wait to see the mods on the one you’re knitting! You’re right. That is wonderful yarn – I wish I had ordered more of it.

  8. Shame on you — tempting us with that Classic Elite Skye Tweed that is impossible to find now..LOL Your sweater is going to be beautiful! That EZ is a wizard to say the least!

  9. I started to make this sweater and decided against it after I saw pictures of women wearing it on Ravelry. The “flat-chested” women looked fine. Those with ample boobage didn’t look great because the line of the yoke cut their breasts in half. I haven’t decided whether I want to raise or lower where the garter stitch begins. I haven’t put much thought into it because I changed my mind and used the yarn to knit the Minimalist Cardigan instead. I can’t wait to see what yours looks like.

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