Friday, February 3, 2017

Insider information

Almost every season of DROPS collections have at least one modell that I have to have. No matter what. This year my love at first sight was their Sprigtime Walley series. By now I know the DROPS modells well enough, to be able to use the last days of the Alpaca Party sale and get the yarn without actually having the pattern. 
Translating their patterns means that I get the English version a few days earlier, than it is actually published. Translating something also means, that I have to read it very thoroughly and analyze it, not only for the text but being a well practiced knitter makes it possible to "see" from a technical, proffessional viewpoint, what I am writing about. 
 To all this add the fact that I pretty much dislike winter (OK,  admit, I hate it wholeheartedly), by january I need something green, something spring-ey. No wonder that right after I finished the new year's sweater I started on it.
 Only a few minor changes to the pattern. I pushed the colors toward the less yellowy colors (which make my hair looks more yellow, than it really is) and used the green (insted of the pistachio) for base, and red (instead of the corall), and the petrol (instead of the turqoise), but the average effect is still fresh and spring-like.
 Since gaining weight in the last few years (thanks tyroid) made me rethink of what needs to be hidden on my body, I added a couple of centimeters to the length of the sweater. Furthermore, I wanted to replicate the effect of the wide cuff that is becoming my trademark of sorts, so I repeated the edging pattern about 12 times.
Once again the pattern is rather straighforward, easy to follow, and the changes were only to suit my preferences and do NOT refer (otherwise nonextistent) defects of the pattern. I used the stitchcounts given for size M, while I generally wear things sized L. However, the sweater has patterns that needs to and can be blocked rather severly. To get perfect sizing you might want to check the diagram and make and block a gauge swatch and calculate form there.
Pattern: Spring Walley cardigan, by DROPS
Yarn: DROPS Flora (5 skeins and a bit of the green,- if I made it to its original length five would have been enough, less than 1 skein of white, and the colors were leftover from my earlier projects)
Needles: 3 mm for the one colored parts, 3,5 mm for the fair isle patterns, 2,75 for the garter stitch edging.
Photoes: Christopher Laurent Deli

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