Tag Archives: blue loopy

KTFO-2016.5 : Blue loopy pullover

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FO: Blue loopy pullover

This is the most absurd thing to have knitted, on impulse, in April — which, when you think about it, is the whole fun of it. It’s good to go a little rogue on one’s well-laid plans once in awhile, as long as A) the journey is fun or B) the outcome is worthwhile. Hopefully both — and in this case, I can say both. Making a sweater in about a week is fun, no way around it, and the relative kookiness of the finished sweater will do my increasingly reserved closet some good. So I’m very happy with it, even while I’m leery of how this yarn will wear over time. As I mentioned somewhere in the comments last week, given that it’s basically single-ply merino (at superbulky gauge) I fear it will be a giant pilled bathmat within a couple of wears. I truly hope I’m wrong, but even if I’m right, I’ll be perfectly happy to wear it around the house nonstop with my flannel pajama pants in the cold months, because putting this on is like climbing inside your favorite pillow.

The pattern is a bit lacking, I have to say. The extremely basic construction of this makes it a great candidate for a beginner sweater, but I would never recommend it as anyone’s first sweater. Just because if you don’t already know how to put a sweater together, you’ll have no chance at making sense of these instructions. But if you’re capable of filling in the holes for yourself, and can get by on some rudimentary stitch counts and measurements and wing the rest, you’re good!

Pattern: Super Cropped Sweater by Loopy Mango
Yarn: Loopy Mango Merino No. 5 in Lady Blue
Cost: 5 balls (one more than the pattern calls for) at $28 each = $140

NOTE: I bought the yarn from the incredibly lovely Loopy Mango ladies while at Stitches South, and they very kindly threw in the big US19 needles (with hot pink cable!) in addition to their Loopy tote bag. I was super pleased with the whole shopping experience!

Modifications: My row gauge was more compact than theirs, so already it was going to take me more rows (and more yarn) to reach the designated measurements, but I also lengthened all of the parts. The body is meant to be 16″ and I made mine 18″. The sleeve length isn’t given, but if you tally up the rows and compare to their row count, it would come out to 10.4″ — too short for me. I wanted them a bit cropped but not elbow length; however, I was limited to what I could squeeze out of 1 ball per sleeve, which wound up to be just dandy. I also added neck shaping at the front (as opposed to the square neckhole of the pattern); knitted the sleeves flat rather than picking up stitches and knitting them top-down; and worked the neck band on US17 needles. I wish I had noticed that the pattern was not written for the nice long cuffs the sample had, which I loved — it appears to have had 12 rows of ribbing instead of 10 — but by the time I noticed it, I wasn’t going back.

I have only steam-blocked this, but did widen the body considerably in the process — mine is about 42″ circumference (compared to the pattern’s 32″), and as noted above, knitted to 18″ length (not 16″).

FO: Blue loopy pullover

By the way, I opted to photograph this with the same clothes I had on that day at Stitches, and up until 10 minutes ago I could actually have gotten away with this exact outfit. But now we’re into the 80s and staying there. Hopefully there will be a cool night or two on the porch between now and fall, but I look forward to wearing this with a dress and boots once summer has come and gone.

See all posts on this sweater on the blog and on Instagram.

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PREVIOUSLY in 2016 FOs: Blue sleeve/less dress

To soak or not to soak

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To soak or not to soak

I asked a serious question in a funny manner on Instagram yesterday, and nobody realized I was actually asking. But I’m actually asking: Would you wet-block this yarn?

This is Loopy Mango Merino No. 5, and I know they say you can handwash in cold water, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good idea! It’s basically a big puff of 100% merino roving, with a single lace-weight strand very loosely plied around it. It’s by far the gooiest yarn I’ve ever knitted with. (I like my yarn more on the rugged side. Sheepy. Minimally processed. Hard-wearing.) It literally feels to me like if I put it in water, it will turn to paste, or even dissolve completely. I realize that won’t really happen, but I have blocked soft yarn before and had it come out the other side utterly lifeless. So I’m inclined to only steam or dry-clean this, unless one of you tells me you’ve knitted with it and wet-blocked it and it’s totally fine. Anyone?

Obviously, given the circumstances, I did not knit and block a swatch for this one. And unfortunately I don’t have enough yarn left to knit one now, if that’s what you’re very sensibly about to suggest …

Q for You: What gauge are you?

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Q for You: What gauge are you?

I’m a 7. I don’t mean, like, on a hotness scale of 1 to 10. I mean, my natural gauge — the gauge at which I feel most at ease as a knitter — is 4.5mm, aka US7. I’m content anywhere from US4 to US10-ish, am not unhappy on the bigger fellas, 11-13. But these US19s I’m currently knitting on? Not a fan. I just don’t enjoy working with needles bigger than my fingers. The obvious upside is it goes faster — although the gains of giant stitches are somewhat offset by the clumsiness of wielding the tree trunks.

It’s largely a matter of perspective: To sock knitters, my beloved US7s seem gigantic. To the people who knit on PVC pipe, the standard-range needles must all seem hilarious dinky. After knitting for a few days on these 19s, if I pick up the 4s above, they feel like toothpicks. So there’s no going back and forth between my two current projects. (My blue Loopy and my black Anna, that is.) Plus given my lack of joy in the act of this knitting and the fact that the blue sweater isn’t exactly seasonally necessary at the moment, I know if I set it aside to knit even a stitch of anything else, I’ll never pick it back up again. So if I don’t want it to wind up an orphan, I have to just power through. Fortunately, after a week of knitting here and there, I’m almost done!

I feel like we all have a range on the scale where we’re most comfortable, but if I had to choose just one needle size to use forevermore — say I could have whatever assortment of circs and DPNs, etc., but all in the same gauge — the automatic answer for me would be US7.  So that’s my Q for You today: What gauge are you?

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: Do you also sew?

Impulse knitting

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Impulse knitting

The thing about the big knitting conventions is they’re basically dens of iniquity. There you are, a little woozy from the florescent lights and sensory deprivation, unfairly surrounded by temptations. And enablers. Did I mention the enablers? You basically don’t stand a chance.

At Stitches South this weekend (RIP apparently, btw), I was very good about not shopping. Even in the predictable slowness of Sunday afternoon, I didn’t do the customary rounds. However, there was no avoiding walking up and down our own aisle, as the bathrooms were at one end and the dock doors at the other — not to mention good friends scattered up and down the aisle. Plus I was there with no knitting.

I’ve all but run out of yarn for my Anna vest (after frog-knitting the button band), and although it’s blocked and ready to assemble, seaming isn’t really a suitable activity while manning a booth. Neither of my HIPs (that’s hats-in-progress, y’all) was suitable booth knitting either. And across from my friends in the Craft South booth, at the dock end of our aisle, sat the charming ladies of Loopy Mango, looking utterly adorable in their gooshy, brightly colored, superbulky knitwear. Plus after I’d sweated it out through setup days, preview night, and public day one, Saturday morning presented us with the customary arctic convention-hall climate, and I was still dressed for sweating. So let’s review:

  1. I had no knitting.
  2. I was cold.
  3. Those Loopy Mango ladies were darling.

So I walked to the other end of the aisle. I pulled on the baby-blue chunky cropped pullover I’d been eyeing (so soft, so warm), and I walked back down the aisle to get Rebekka and DG’s opinions on it. I’m not making this up: As I walked, heads turned. Mouths formed Oooh shapes. Strangers told me how adorable I looked. Upon my arrival back at our booth, Rebekka’s jaw literally fell open. Then DG made a puckered face I thought was leading to the “huh uh” that I would take as gospel, but instead he nodded gently and said, “Yeah, you can have that.”

Ergo, I bought a kit.