Tweed Chaika

I finished one more sweater out of Natural Fantasy Condor - Italian bobbin tweed I was gifted by a FB friend. Instead of making another Hayward or other plain color stockinette sweater, I decided to combine the pink tweed with a remnant of the plum Natural Fantasy Condor tweed I used for this hoodie and make another Chaika. 

Chaika (sea gull) is a pattern recipe by Olga Kondratieva. Two years ago I knitted it for the first time for Gaby and it is one of her favourites, mainly due to the soft and warm merino yarn I used for hers. 

The pattern recipe is very easy to calculate and follow and the striped part is quite addictive to knit. I must admit I enjoyed knitting this sweater though I do not consider it a must-have and wouldn't have made it had I not had the gifted yarn - just now I have too many of these sweaters and no place to wear them - I prefer T-shirts at home.

Some technical details about the sweater. I calculated the yoke with little positive ease and knit it in the round, casting on with long-tail cast on and rolled hem at the neck. After the split for the body and the sleeves I shaped the V with short rows on every 3 stitches, until I reached the central stitch. meanwhile I slightly A-shaped the body by adding increases to the sides every 5 cm of length.

I hemmed the body with 2x2 split rib, which I cast off with purl over purls and knit over knits, to keep the hems elastic and not too wavy.

I knit the sleeves in the round, gradually decreasing every 9th round. Then I finished them with long 2x2 ribs and I-cord bind off.

 

Pattern: Chaika, based on Olga Kondratyeva's recipe

Yarn: Natural Fantasy Condor, 200g total

Yarn Content: 62% wool, 6% angora, 10% silk, 4% modal, 18% polyamide, 450 m / 100 g

Needle: 3.25 mm body, 3 mm hems

Time to knit: almost two months with other projects in between

As promised, winter returned with -16C and heavy snow. Last week I was out in a short-sleeved T-shirt and just a few days later it was freezing cold and sweater weather again. Luckily, the temperatures are expected to rise again next week. I think I had enough snow this year, so I'll be quite happy to see it melt and never come back until next winter :)

Hayward

I have a new sweater to show you  - Hayward, a simple raglan with elongated raglan lines, a lot of positive ease, boat neck and 7/8 sleeves, knitted in stockinette stitch in the round - the perfect tv knitting!

I was gifted the yarn by a Facebook friend, who had bought it, did not like it and noticed that I had knitted with it previously. In all honesty, it is my least favourite Italian bobbin tweed yarn I've tried so far, but it is of very beautiful color and definitely did not deserve to finish in the trash bin unloved.

I fought with it hard until I found the right pattern. Initially I bought the popular Harley and cast it on with this yarn, but midway the cowl I realized that this tweed was too stiff, too dry and too busy for the cabled Harley. And then I remembered that I had been planning to have a go at the Hayward for quite a long time and this was the perfect yarn - if I did not like the elongated raglan, at least I would not have wasted precious yarn on it.

To knit the sweater I followed the general recipe for elongated raglan by Olga Kondratyeva and my own measurements and calculations. And it all went very smoothly until I reached the sleeves. Then my perfectionist nature in evil combination with my ever hesitant self knitted and frogged endlessly one sleeve or another - long or short, how long, how short, how narrow, how wide - I couldn't decide and I had to try them all until I was finally satisfied with the result you see on these pictures. I do not regret a single frogged stitch, as at least now I know this is exactly how I wanted the sleeves! :)

The positive ease - I knitted the sweater with a total of 20 cm positive ease at the bust and I believe this is really needed to make the Hayward silhouette work. For the hem - I tried without ribbing, but it curled uncompromisingly and no amount of blocking or even 3-st I-cord could prevent it. Plus the wideness of the sweater around the bum, combined with the curling, was very unflattering. So in the end I unravelled the last 10 or so rows and finished the hem with 2x2 ribbing and I love it - it stays straight and pulls in the volume just enough to feel comfortable.

Pattern: Hayward by Julie Hoover

Yarn: Natural Fantasy Condor 3, 200 g

Yarn Content: 62% wool, 6% angora, 10% silk, 4% modal, 18% polyamide, 450 m / 100 g

Needle: 3.25 mm, 3 mm

Time to knit: about a month

 

All in all, I'm actually truly happy with the final result, the sweater is easy to wear and very light - only 200g, but quite warm. After washing the yarn softened and as you can see I am able to wear it right next to the skin without any itching or irritation. Now I have to decide what to make out of the two other bobbins of the same yarn in two other colors that came with it - more Hayward sweaters perhaps :)