My first knit of the year, this is the Hotline Sweater by Wool and the Gang using mohair in size 2. I bought this pack last autumn before I did my research on wool, became vegan and now don't support the industry, read more about why here. It is what it is, I chose to still keep and knit the jumper as I spent a lot of money on it, even though it was reduced in the sale (from £77 to £56). Although I bought it in Autumn '18, I didn't get round to casting on until July this year, I was busy sewing.
Unusually, I don't have much to say about this jumper. It was very straight forward; knit two identical rectangles with some arm hole shaping for the front and back, two sleeves, then sew one shoulder seam together and knit the neck, sew the other shoulder seam and neck closed, then sew the rest of your seams.
I have to admit I didn't do a gauge for tension in preparation, sorry knitters. I have tried them before and they never ever work for me, so I just don't do them now because it avoids frustration and confusion. My tension is always off, my swatch is always way too narrow for what they prescribe which is very confusing. When I've bought a pack, I'm not going to be changing my needle size and I made sure I wasn't knitting too tightly but that's all I could do. It worked out fine in the end.
I learnt some new techniques- the whole jumper was knitted using 'reverse stockings stitch' which is just stocking stitch but using the 'wrong' purled side as your right side. This was a bit of a mind bend, because I automatically see my knitted side as the neatest and had to keep reminding myself.
The ribbing around the hems and the neck is 2x1 rib stitch, which wasn't that enjoyable. Knit knit purl, then a row of knit purl purls, repeat. I had to do a lot of marking down so I knew exactly which line I was on. This type of rib isn't the same on both right and wrong side, and if you look closely, one of my sleeves is actually showing the wrong side, because I decided it was much much neater than my other side and didn't realise they were different until I had knitted both sleeves. The mohair is so fluffy it obscures a lot of detail so it was difficult to notice changes like this until I saw the cuffs side by side. The yarn's quality also helped me hide my mistakes and any uneven tension, and it also is very good at disguising your weaved in tails at the end.
I also learnt how to properly join seams together using the invisible vertical, horizontal and parallel stitch. This was incredibly difficult to do with mohair becuase your stitches are so hard to identify. I found it was much easier to see my stitches if they were back lit against a white wall, but this was tricky to achieve as I also wanted to have my pieces side by side in a position where I could sew them together. I did this with the first few stitches and once I got a feel for where the bars of stitching were I just felt my way up, I'm sure I must have stitched around a few wrong stitches.
A little photo essay of my knitting process:
I'm very pleased with the result. It's quite a big, mainly longer than I would usually go for. I've worn it a few times already and it's nice to wear it tucked in, it looks a bit smarter that way. It is extremely comfortable and light but very warm. I'm pleased with my stitches, overall I think they look neat. The best bit is the neck, which was what drew me to the jumper in the first place. I really like its width and how it folds in at the front. I love the colourway Powder Green, my favourite shade of green, it goes with a lot of colours I do have; rust, taupe, grey. Being dark it is very versatile but is also a colour I don't have a lot of in my wardrobe which makes it a nice change. The sleeves are quite long; they cover my hands at their full length. I push them up, but it's nice to have that length to keep you warm.
WATG Hotline Sweater pack. Includes 6 balls of Take Care Mohair, the pattern, 8mm knitting needles and a knitter's sewing needle & garment label.
(I used 5 balls plus needed the 6th for stitching my seams, and have nearly a whole ball left over).