Friday, December 13, 2013

Completed: Fair isle sweater

Finally picked up my laptop n get to blogging.... And now introducing my lovely n cosy fair isle sweater.

 
Simple and nice design and moreover the knitting pattern is free! Who doesn't love free stuff?
 
Knitting pattern used: Afmæli - 20-year anniversary sweater by Védís Jónsdóttir
Yarns used: Lion brand wool ease grey heather 5 skeins, frosty white 1 skein and dark grey 1 skein. I got all of them on sale at 2.99usd each at joann so in total, this sweater costs me 21usd. Whee!
Needles used: 4mm and 5mm needles.
I am falling in love with lion brand wool ease yarns, it doesn't empties my pocket, is warm n cozy and fast to knit up. Maybe cos I haven got the courage to spur on those expensive merino yarns yet so I don't really know the quality diff of the yarns. And further more, a year and 3 months later, we will be moving back to the hot n humid tropical Singapore, so all the coldwear knits will be stored away then. Sad. Yes very sad. I really enjoy the cold weather here and love knitting the cold wears.
 
 
 
Ok back to the pattern, I was shocked initially when I downloaded the pdf only to find less than 1 page of instructions and 1 page of chart. I was like: huh? it's a sweater? n the instructions are so little? shouldn't it be long n winy?  

But after starting this project, I realized just how easy it is to knit. The fair isle portions are the most exciting and satisfying part. For the sleeves I used magic loop method as I came to dislike dpn now. Magic loop method is so much faster. My stranding skills have improved a lot and is neat n tidy now.

 
C? A huge diff from my previous projects. LOL!
 
 
I learnt a new seaming technique called the Kitchener stitch for the armholes. Sounds confusing but after watching the tutorial on youtube, its really easy as long as you follow the 'rhythm' . And the end result is seamless finishing look at the armholes. Awesome! Whoever invented that is a genius.
 
 
I love my new sweater, I had it on when I went for the black Friday moonlight outlet shopping at 3am and it kept me warm n cosy throughout the shopping trip. Brought lots of stuff that night for myself n the boys. How about you?
 
Thanks for stopping by:
XOXO
Ashley