As fall wears on, we have finally started to get cool weather in the Chicago area (rejoice long-distance runners!) ushering in the start of my favorite time of year: Sweater Season! My love of sweaters has only increased with knitting experience, and it usually takes all my willpower to avoid spending my entire paycheck on the first ones of the season that I see! (Reminding myself of the entire dresser I have that’s devoted to sweaters usually helps). Cables and bobbles and Fair Isle all beckon me dangerously. Must resist urge to knit!
Bobbled Tunic
While flipping through my many back issues of Vogue Knitting, I came across one of my favorite (visually) sweaters in the Holiday 2006 issue. It is a beautiful chunky tunic by Twinkle featuring the characteristic use of reverse-Stockinette stitch and big yarn (the pattern calls for Cascade’s “Magnum”) for a quick knit. The pattern features a cabled bobble pattern down the front of the tunic, a bobble vine down both sleeves, a front sweatshirt-like pocket, ribbed detailing and a yoked collar.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have a thing for Twinkle sweaters; this pattern especially appealed to me because of its stylish ease (it is proportioned to fit like your favorite sweatshirt, but is infinitely more stylish) and the bobbled texture). However, I had avoided making it because of the expense. Magnum is a beautiful yarn, but at $20.00/skein (that’s an $80.00 sweater even if you are super skinny) it’s out of my price range. Then I wondered if I could achieve the same expensive look and texture of the sweater, but with something a lot cheaper.
Enter the purple Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand Yarn at the bottom of my stash basket. I’d had this yarn for a couple years as a birthday present from my grandmother, but hadn’t found the right sweater to make from it. I started playing with it, and discovered that when two strands were held together, the knitted texture was almost as big and fluffy as the texture in most bulky Twinkle knits. I used 7 skeins to complete my sweater (with plenty of leftovers) at $2.50/skein (Michael’s seems to have the best sale prices on commercially prepared acrylic yarns) which adds up to a $17.50 sweater. Hello bargain knitting!*
For the bobbled tunic, I used a size 15 needle; the original pattern calls for a size 17, but I found this texture with the double Vanna’s to be a little loose. Because I used a smaller needle size, I followed the stitch directions for the large size, and the measurement directions for the small size (my size!) for the body. However, when I tried knitting the sleeves in this way, they were much too loose, so I followed the stitch directions for the medium size on them.
The pattern also had some weird measurements for the collar portion of the directions; the pattern suggests that for all sizes, the collar should be worked in Stockinette stitch for 4 inches after the initial decrease round, before completing the rest of the yoke shaping. However, when I did this, the point where the stitching texture switches from reverse-Stockinette to Stockinette fell directly on my bust line instead of above it. So, I ripped back and worked 5 more rounds of rev.-St. stitch (logically extending the cabled pattern at the front) including the first round of decrease shaping for the collar. I then switched to Stockinette for 2 rounds before following the yoke decreases. The pattern suggests that the final collar measurements for all sizes should be 11 inches, which seems pretty silly to me as the distance from above the bust line to the collarbone will differ for taller or shorter women (and different sizes). My completed collar measures 10 ½ inches, with all shaping worked over 4 inches.
Overall, I’m very happy with the way the tunic turned out. It knit up really quickly (I finished it over a couple days) and is warm and cozy, perfect for the Chicago fall!
*Note: Generally, when knitting, I prefer wools over acrylics because of the lasting quality 100% wools have over acrylic and acrylic blend yarns. The sweaters that I’ve knitted in acrylics and blends (especially Lion Brand wool-ease) may be easy to clean and cheap, but they fuzz, loose shape and wear noticeably over time. I’m hoping that Vanna’s will wear much better because it is 100% acrylic.
