Not many of us can pull off a gold lamé mini and Rodarte runway eyebrow “makeup,” but this slouchy little black sweater seen on model Kia Low is just the sort of staple we should all have in our closets. It strikes me as a classic Julie Hoover sort of thing, and sure enough she’s got just the pattern: Marly. All you need to do to make it a little more like Kia’s is knit an extra inch or two on the sleeve length.
Black yarn isn’t the easiest thing to come by, and Marly is written for Serena, an alpaca-cotton blend in sport weight, which makes this one extra tricky on the substitution front. (Unless, of course, you want to knit it one of Serena’s colors!) I asked Julie what she’d recommend and, interestingly, she thought of Shibui’s Twig and Pebble held together, which is the exact combo I was just swatching. Marly’s gauge is 23 sts and 32 rows over 4 inches. My swatch in those two yarns held double on US8s was 23 sts and 30 rows. So one could very likely get Marly’s gauge with a US7 or US8 needle and those two yarns, both of which come in the deliciously black Abyss. Or, as Julie points out, Shibui has a number of lace- or fingering-weight yarns that could be combined for this sweater in a variety of fabrics — Twig + Pebble, Linen + Silk Cloud, Cima + Linen. You’d just need the designated Marly yardage in each of the two yarns. And please send the sweater to me when you’re done with it!
See Vanessa’s original post for additional shots of Kia’s outfit.
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PREVIOUSLY in Knit the Look: Elin Kling’s spring shell
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Street style photo © Vanessa Jackman; used with permission
