Finished Project

Finished Project: Kate's Minori in Germantown

I try to have a "fun" project over the holiday break, something I can work on while in the car driving to see family, hanging out in the morning, or relaxing after dinner. The perfect project is interesting enough to hold my attention but not so difficult that I can't work with some distractions. When looking for a sweater to knit this December, I saw Minori by Rievive and knew it was the one. The garment is a very heavily cabled pullover with twisted ribbing, bobbles, and bramble stitches. Once I memorized the stitch pattern, I could tell the knitting would be fun and challenging while still allowing me to pay attention to what was going on around me. In true Kate style, I worked a few modifications into the garment: The pattern is written in the round from the bottom up, but I opted to work the front and back separately. I also did not work the additional dolman increases, as my intention was to make a layering piece that could easily fit over t-shirts and under coats. Continuing my "flat in pieces whenever possible" m.o., I knit the sleeves flat from the cuffs up and seamed them in (rather than from the armholes down in the round as written). And finally, the neck is a more fitted crew finished with a tubular bind off rather than the folded, almost funnel neck in the pattern. The Germantown really shines in all the textured stitches. Even with the large cables the finished sweater isn't overly heavy, but any sagging potential is taken care of with the aforementioned seaming. Linette was kind enough to take shots in her studio last Tuesday when we photographed some hats, but I couldn't resist asking Owen to snap a few more while we're up in Vermont for the girls' spring break this week. It felt great to be able to wear a garment - and especially one knit purely for fun - in the place I cast on less than 4 months ago!