- Pattern: Sugar Maple by Carina Spencer
- Yarn: Katia Polynesia Gradient in 305.
This is my first knitted garment. Actually the third, but we'll get to that. I got this gradient yarn during my trip to Spain last September. Initially I had no plans on what I would do with it, I had mostly knit accesories and just dipped my toes into shawls, which is what I originally thought I'd make. But when I got back home I though I might try kniting my first piece of garment so off I went to Ravelry and found this lovely pattern from Carina Spencer.
I initially knitted this in my usual size (38) and with US 4 (3.5mm) needles... and it ended waaay too large. My mom said it was because it's a linen/viscose blend and it tends to "give" a lot. So I frogged it and re-knit it in a couple sizes down (same needle size). Still. Too. Large.
At this point I realized knitting willy-nilly wasn't going to work anymore so went ahead and knit a gauge sample, which ended up resulting that I needed to size down to US 2 1/2 (3.00mm) needles. On this third attempt I decided to knit with the colors reversed (teal to burgundy).
MUCH BETTER.
It is not 100% perfect fit, but it's good enough that I'm happy to actually wear this outside so I'm declaring it finished. Finally.
Hooray! It looks great, love the colours and I do like it with the teal at the top although I'm sure it was probably awesome the other way round too ๐
The importance of swatching is something we all learn the hard way at some point. And then usually reject and have to keep learning over and over again because we're lazy. But I'm sure that last part won't apply here ๐
I think I'll keep up making swatches for garment where sizing does matter but keep winging it willy-nilly for accesories lol
This is what I do ๐.