Finished Project

Finished Project: Kate's Brushed Dandelion Sweater

Wahoo! Another finished sweater! As you may recall, I swatched the Navia Brushed and Deluxe yarns back in October. At that time, we were working with Navia on translating the patterns from some of their newer books, and I was eager to knit Dandelion by Sára J. Mrdalo from Book 30. Although Dandelion calls for Silkiull, I was in love with the Brushed swatches and wanted to see how it would work up in such a feminine design. I ended up using US 9s to match the pattern gauge of 14 stitches to 4” (instead of US 8 at a gauge of 15 stitches to 4” as I originally thought), as I didn’t want to worry about adjusting the math. I used Navia Brushed Tradition in 1102 light grey, a lovely heathered neutral, and knit the size medium with no modifications. Worked in pieces - my absolute most favorite way to make a sweater - I knit the back first, then the front, and then each sleeve. It knit up easily and quickly, and the flower pattern on the front was a nice break from all stockinette stitch. I opted to seam using Navia Duo, as the brushed is both a little too fuzzy and thick for working the mattress stitch.

All the finishing was completed about six weeks ago at the beginning of quarantine, but as a result of the warm spring weather combined with never leaving the house, I haven’t had more than one or two opportunities to wear it. But, oh, what a sweater! At only 240 grams, it is light as air and incredibly warm. (I know that sounds impossible - I had to weigh it three times to be sure!)

The little flower pattern took a bit of getting used to, but the detail adds just enough detail to the garment and I love the finished result. The Brushed Tradition was a dream to work with - it is light and soft, but has just enough tooth from the Faroese wool. Once blocked, the fibers bloom and it looks really nice at this looser gauge.

All in all, I’m in love with my new sweater and cannot wait to wear it a ton next winter when it is cool enough (and we can all hopefully leave the house safely). If you, too, want a Dandelion of your very own, the pattern is available in English on Ravelry!