I promised a finished object, and low and behold I actually do have one. May I present Rapunzel...
Poor Rapunzel had been sitting around nearly finished for ages in my knitting basket. I had a small little bit of sleeve to finish and that was about it. In early August the urge to finish her up took hold and I had the sleeves finished in no time. I not only wanted to finish her, but wanted to submit her to the Big E state fair. This was good in theory, but with a vacation scheduled for the last week of August was a bit of a reach.
I did most of the piecing on the flight to Florida, and spent any of my free time at the end of the night working on the collar. I finished her the day before I had to have my package postmarked by for the fair entry. Actually I still haven't added on the crochet trim, but my mother has a hold of the sweater now and doesn't show signs of wanting to give it back.
It looks like it pulls a bit in that photo, but once I add the trim and the buttons it will be fine. It was supposed to be for me, but my failure to test swatch, and my super tight knitting made sure there was no way the sweater was going to fit me. I knit the sweater in the large size, and it just fights my mom who usually wears a size small.
I was unsure in the begining how I was going to like the Lurex Shimmer color that I ended up using. The original sweater used a pewter color with the glacier blue Kid Classic. Lurex Shimmer had already been discontinued when I started making this sweater and was unable to find any of the pewter colorway. I found two balls in "Minty" at my LYS that I ended up using. It's a pretty green/blue color and it works great with the the glacier. I'm so glad I didn't end up using the pewter. The shimmer had a great and unexpected pop to the sweater.
The Details -
Rapunzel, Rowan #34, Designed by Jean Moss
Knit with Rowan Kid Classic (Wool, Mohair, Nylon Blend). 10 balls of Glacier, and 2 balls Rowan Lurex Shimmer in Minty.
Pattern Notes
I loved this project, crazy ends and all. The pattern held my attention throughout and never got boring at all. The knit-on icord was a bit tedious, but wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I knit it pretty much without any changes. I think I made the collar a bit shorter, but that was about it.
I really need to swatch before I make my next Rowan pattern. I'm a tight knitter and always seem to end up with things that don't fit in the end. When I was working on the sweater down in Florida, my family was all trying to talk my mother into letting them have it. She was thrilled that I screwed up and she ended up with it.
Yarn Notes
I loved using the Kid Classic. So soft and touchable. It is works perfectly for this sweater. The lurex shimmer isn't my usual style, but it works with this pattern. Since it's only used fair-isle style just little bits of it show up and it adds a nice touch to the sweater. I'm glad I used it.
And how'd Rapunzel do under the judges harsh glare?
Woo-Hoo! Second place. I was thrilled, as this was my first ever entry. I lost out to a gorgeous aran sweater so I can live with that. My judging card said it liked the yarn choices and the pattern. My edges looked a bit rough (still needs that crochet trim) and some of my stitches were a bit uneven. I always end up a bit uneven when I work on something in a pattern that alternates between knit and purl stitches. It's something I need to work on to improve my knitting. (Either that or just knit things in the round).
