The "Antler" Sweater

We had dinner at Foodie’s house on Wednesday and I will write about that delicious meal soon.

What I want to write about now is the gorgeous pullover sweater Foodie made and modeled for us on Wednesday.

She’s a charming model, by the way.

This sweater was made as part of a knit-along on ravelry.com, and our crew has been following her progress each week.  It’s a pattern called “Antler” and it’s a lovely two-toned frock described on ravelry.com as “a cozy every day sweater. Easy to wear.  It has a feminine neckline and nice garter stitch details.”    Here is the link to the pattern.

 

I love the textures created by the different stitches.  Also,  the bottom detail is a little “curve” that adds to its flirtyness and flattering silhouette.

This little number is worked in the round from the top-down in one piece, with contiguous sleeves.  No sewing required!  Foodie said that the pattern is a bit complicated, but now that she has knitted one, she knows the drill and will eagerly make another! 

I had no idea what “contiguous sleeves” meant, so I consulted the site:

 

“The Contiguous method is a way of knitting the shoulder seams and sleeve caps of a garment from the top down.  It differs from Barbara Walker’s simultaneous set-in sleeve methods, in that this method uses one continuous row (or round) right from the start.  This incorporates the front, shoulder seam, back, other shoulder seam and other front. BW’s method only reaches this stage after knitting about a third of the top/yoke. This method naturally forms a nice shoulder slope.”

Now I know as much as I did before.  Once I think about it, I'll get it (or I'll ask Foodie to explain it to me).  You can see the smoothness of the contiguous sleeve method in the above photo.

 

This sweater is color-blocked, so the knitter is encouraged to use two different color yarns…some of the combinations shown on the site are simply stunning.  

For her second sweater, Foodie was thinking a lovely, heathery navy with goldenrod trim. 

What I love about ravelry.com besides the free advice offered, is those who have knitted the garment you want to knit post comments, variations, and other helpful hints. There are “hot” patterns (most downloaded) and you can join forums to talk with other knitters about knitting stuff. There are also links to buy patterns, yarn and other supplies.  I have to admit, I had so much yarn from well-intentioned but forgotten projects that I finally had to donate the entire kit-and-caboodle to Goodwill. 

I need inspiration and motivation…maybe a knit-along is just the thing for me.  The Italian-Catholic guilt will keep me knitting, if nothing else.   We talked about this before.