Pattern: Deschain by Leila Raabe
Yarn: we are knitters The Pima Cotton in Light Salmon.
Mods: Added 1 repeat of the front lace panel and the corresponding number of rows to the back.
Ravelry Project page here.
You know what? This top is lovely. It looks a lot like the sample in the pattern photos, which is what I was aiming for so two thumbs up for that. The colour looks exactly like it does on the website where I bought the yarn. The finished knit is exactly what it's supposed to be, just what I set out to knit... so then why do I feel so ambivalent towards it? My FO posts are typically just a smattering of exclamation points, full of excitement over how much I love my newest knit. This time... I'm just kinda feeling like "yup, there it is, not sure how much I'll wear it." Maybe it's just that new mom brain where it's impossible to make a decision so I'm just not capable of deciding wether or not I like it. Or maybe it's the long, harrowing journey this yarn and I went on together before this sweater materialized... maybe I'm just not over it yet and can't fully accept and love this sweater until a little time has been placed between me and this nearly 9 month long project.
So, I bought the yarn as part of the Silver Monk Sweater Kit from We Are Knitters. I was drawn in by the appeal of "the kit", everything I needed to make this sweater came in one very hip brown paper bag. I really liked the idea of a slouchy, casual, cotton pullover with a sexy back detail. I was stoked for my Silver Monk Sweater and quite proud of myself for choosing such an out of my comfort zone colour. I cast on in September and knit away at it over the fall. It involved what felt like miles of garter stitch. As I neared the end I knew in my heart that it wasn't working out. This was a giant light salmon coloured blob of garter stitch. I didn't particularly love how the pattern was written but I could get past that if the finished knit was worth it. I used the wooden needles that came in the kit to knit the sweater and didn't enjoy them either, but that is in no way the kit's fault, I could have switched to my preferred needle at any point, but I was committed to seeing the whole kit experience through to the end. So I finished the sweater and then made the mistake of trying it on sometime in January when I was about 8 months pregnant. My reasoning for doing so was that the sweater was supposed to have quite a bit of positive ease, so even pregnant I should be able to get it on and get an idea of how the back would fall and then if all had gone according to plan I could start to look forward to wearing the sweater after the baby was born... but it was awful. It was so obviously bad. It hung down to my knees, the back opening was massive, there was no way this sweater was going to work, pregnant or not. Normally at 8 months pregnant I can have a sense of humour about how comically huge my belly is and how hilarious some clothes look stretched over me, but this was not one of those times.
Ok, so I put it in a time out and decided that I'd revisit it when the mood struck. The baby was born (yay!) the weather finally started to warm up and the idea of having a lovely hand knit cotton layer to wear started to sound appealing again. So I armed myself with a sweaters worth of frogged yarn, a new pattern, my favourite needles, and went for it. The knitting was pure joy this time around. I am in no way an expert when it comes to cotton yarn, but this yarn is soft, comfortable and lovely to work with. It stood up to frogging really well too.
As I was knitting Deschain I had no idea wether or not it would turn out. I think that I'm just not familiar enough with cotton yarns to be able to predict how they are going to behave. Everything seemed fine as I was knitting, but I decided not to get too excited about it until it was blocked and dry and I was able to try it on. Blocking it looked hilarious! This giant wide rectangle with two tiny little t-rex arms popping out either side. But on the body it drapes rather beautifully! I was, and still am, pleasantly surprised. But the elephant in the room is still the colour. Looking at it in these photos I don't hate it. In fact, I think that I even like it - especially because I don't own anything else in this colourway. I'm just having a hard time not feeling like I'm wearing a skin suit. I mean, this colour is pretty darn close to my own complexion. From a distance I can imagine people asking themselves wether or not I'm going topless. This fear lingered the entire time I was knitting it but I thought that when I put it on I'd know one way or the other wether I liked it or not, but I'm still torn!
The reason this post is titled "Probably An FO Post" is because I think that I'm coming around to it. I think that I'm going to leave it as is and see wether or not I reach for it throughout the summer. If I don't... in the dye bath it goes! If I dye it I will either go burgundy or denim - maybe the denim would layer over the salmon in a pretty way that would result in some purple bits? That sounds like fun right?
