Real life knitting
There is fantasy knitting – the sort of pieces that you aspire to, that intrigue you with their construction, beguile you with lace and/or cable patterns, or tantalise you with colour – and then there is knitting reality. The reality that says that what you are most likely to wear has clean, classic lines, a neutral colour that goes with everything and, perhaps most importantly, miles and miles of stocking stitch.
BK (before knitting), I had several long knitted cardigans in my wardrobe. Most of them I’d bought while overseas, and they were perfect over jeans or dresses to add just enough warmth to a Scandinavian spring or early autumn. Here, they were midwinter must-haves.
Since becoming a knitter, however, I’ve spent a lot of knitting time on flirty little cardigans and lovely fitted sweaters. The long cardi – this staple of my wardrobe – has, however, been sadly neglected.
Until now.
Now I have Annikki.
The original pattern is very traditional – knitted in pieces and seamed. Given that I knit this in Berocco Ultra Alpaca, which is a wool/alpaca blend, I did opt to seam the back and fronts to give the garment more structure. I couldn’t resist tweaking it just a little though. I shaped the shoulders with short rows and “seamed” them with a three-needle bind-off, and I knit the sleeves top-down using short-row sleeve caps.
Unfortunately, Annikki was finished about a week too late for Brisbane’s true winter weather. We’ve edged into spring now and, failing a sudden cold spell, it’s likely that it will be put away until next year.
But I guess that just gives me something to look forward to!
In the meantime, I’ve cast on a couple of cute little spring sweaters…
LOVE! Although I prefer to think of these as “zen knitting.” Gorgeous piece though. Probably tedious to knit in parts, but really lovely on you.
Cheers!
Daisy
Actually, the only (slightly) tedious part was the seaming, but I did most of that at my favourite yarn store which made it more bearable. Thanks for your lovely compliment!
Hi,
Love the sweater on you. I found it on Ravelry but can’t figure out how to get the pattern. Where did you buy it?
Thanks!
Rebecca
Thanks Rebecca! It’s in a booklet – Norah Gaughan Vol 1 – that I bought from my LYS.