"Breathing Space" by Veera Välimäki. It's pretty likely you may have seen this pattern, as it is from the ever popular "Interpretations" series and has been made 1691 times on Ravelry. Also, Veera is pretty famous for her work, especially her "Color Affection" Shawl.
Mine happened by accident. I have had 2 skeins of Malabrigo Sock, in the colorways "Lettuce" and "Solice" for a few years now, having bought on sale. I had been looking for something to pair these two with and I was flipping through the Interpretations book one day and fell in love with this pattern. I quickly bought a second skein of Solice and got to work. This was in July of 2017.
When I started, I ran into a few kinks, the main one being my gauge, which was off by a few rows (more rows per inch than the pattern asked for). As my stitch gauge was correct, I went with it, knowing I'd need more rows/stripes to equal their numbers. It was pretty smooth sailing for awhile until I got to the bottom part of the body this past December. The math got confusing and I just couldn't decide how long I wanted it. I ended up binding off and then un-binding to make longer.
The sleeves were the same story, having decided to make them a little bit longer and having to redo a few things on them. But I'm pretty happy with the length and so glad I did redo things. I bound off for real on Saturday evening, February 17. Exactly 8 months after Ravelry says I started.
The whole time I was trying it on as I went - a perk of sweaters in the round - and it fit pretty well, so I was a little worried blocking may make it huge. But it really needed some breath (yes, pun intended) and so I took the leap and blocked. Let me just say that I am very glad I did! It's so nice and drapes really well on me now.
A few more notes:
- I actually provisionally casted on at the neck, as I wanted to go back and do a stretchy bind off on it. I am glad that I did, but pulling out that provisional cast on was a pain. I think I did it wrong :/
- I decided to make a "gradual fade" at the bottom of the body and sleeves with the stripes, which I enjoy. Although I wish I had striped it longer before going back to solid.
- The stripe pattern is 2 rows one color, 2 rows the other. If you look at the body close enough you will see a stripe that is a bit thicker. That's my "Birthday Stripe" which is from when I had too much wine on my birthday and ended up doing 3 rows of the darker color. I like telling that story, so it stayed.
- The diagonal rows are created by one of my favorites, short rows, and so much fun to work.
- I will likely make another some day, but I need a break for now. It was suggested I try it with random stripes of sock yarn. Yay?
For the record, I will NEVER paint in this sweater. In fact, I'm even scared to wear it to school on days we will be painting. BUT it felt appropriate to do some studio shots in it, as it's such an artsy piece.
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Thank you for taking the time to read today. I have the day off from school for President's Day and had to stop and blog for a bit. But now I need to get back to life, AKA dying yarn all afternoon.
~Lisa
