Hey Sweeties,
We are here today to mourn the outcome of my first project of the new year.
Ok, so maybe that was a little dramatic, but that’s how I’m feeling about this project, dramatic, and very sad.
It’s supposed to be the Joanie Boatneck, by Poison Grrls.
The design is a beautiful pullover inspired by Joan from Mad Men. It has a cool 60’s vibe, with tiny little cables that mimic seams and, best of all, it’s knit seamlessly top down.
What more could you ask for?
As you may know, especially if you have seen my Ravelry queue, I am such a big fan of Poison Grrls. I love the vintage aesthetic and Rockabilly sensibility, in all things, and Poison Grrls offers that in knitting patterns. The patterns are well-written and easy to follow, as well as being well-designed and pretty to have and display. Basically, I am a fan. If that interests you, check out Poison Grrls patterns.
Which is part of the reason this hurts so badly!
The other part being the yarn.
This Red Door Fibre Studios ACOTAR collection yarn!
AND I WASTED IT!
I used a tonal mini skein set and one full skein. And, to be honest, I didn’t have enough of the colors to follow the pattern to the letter, modifications had to be made.
The colors are:
- Off-White: Thought for Thought
- Yellow: You’re Free
- Orange: Cauldron Boil Me
- Red: Firedrake
- Purple: Cursebreaker
- Indigo: Impressive Wingspan
- Blue: Truth-Teller
- Green: Insignificant Human
- Dark Grey: Fine is Great
I feel like I have let Kate down, not to mentioned absolutely squandered the precious. This is one of the sweater quantities I mentioned in my post about the Baudelairy Type Crop. And, as with all of the yarn I have from Red Door, I cannot replace this yarn and it isn’t guaranteed to ever be re-released. And, therefore we mourn for this sweater.
The pattern in chronicled in a Ravelry project page, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, but all of the details are included below.
Joanie in Prythian by Poison Grrls
Gauge: 28 sts x 40 rows = 4 inches
Needles: US 3 Circular & Double Point
Yarn: Red Door Fiber Studio
- Fingering Weight
- Thought for Thought
- You’re Free
- Cauldron Boil Me
- Firedrake
- Cursebreaker
- Impressive Wingspan
- Truth-Teller
- Insignificant Human
- Fine is Great
So, I mentioned, very subtly, that I am disappointed in this make.
And disappointed is an understatement. I failed miserably with this one!
The issues are all to do with fit. It’s too tight in some places, too loose in others and please don’t ask me what the neckline is doing because I could not begin to tell you.
The best thing about this sweater are the colors or, you know, the part I had no control over.
I couldn’t perfectly match the stripe arrangement as laid out in the pattern. I ran out of Thought for Thought, my main color and Fine is Great, the dark grey color but I think
I did blocks of rainbow colors to the waist, as opposed to the alternating stripes of the pattern, or even my original plan of alternating rainbow stipes similarly to the yoke,
I had to do the same with the sleeves, thick stripes of color to conserve the little Thought for Thought I had left for the hem ribbing.
I actually knit the sleeves concurrently with the bottom of the body to make sure I wouldn’t run out of yarn before the end.
The bottom hem did end up too tight, I guess because I used a traditional bind off instead of a stretchy bind off. I am coming to the conclusion that all of my garment knitting may just require a stretchy bind off, given how many garments I now have to struggle with because their hems are too tight with no elasticity.
All in all, not a good garment, not terrible, per se, but certainly not good.
I think I will have to revisit this pattern in the future and try to do it justice.
As always, you can check on me on Ravelry or follow me on Instagram and follow #sundayknits, #deedeecreative & #deedeeknits to see what I’m up to.
I so glad to share this project with you so thanks for checking on me and happy knitting!
DeeDee
pretty.black.&.nerdy 