- Persistent Illusion - http://www.persistentillusion.com/blogblog -

Sensational Shirttail Sweater

noro kochoran yarn

I made this sweater with Noro Kochoran in color # 31. It’s a yummy blend of 50% wool, 20% silk and 30% angora, and is hand dyed in Japan. On my monitor this picture is fairly close to the correct color, but is maybe a bit dark. The major color is sort of a greyish sand, with rust, white, blue, grey and brown. It should go with anything.

I liked knitting with the Noro Kochoran, although it had its good points and bad points. On the good side, it created a wonderfully soft fabric that’s a little fuzzy, but not furry. I had to tink out a few stitches here and there, and it’s not difficult to do as it would be with alpaca or mohair. The fabric was even softer after washing. On the bad side, I spent a lot of time picking various junk out of the fibers. For the price I paid for the yarn, it could be cleaner!

buttons for sweater

This is a picture showing the sweater back and fronts started and the buttons that I found at Button Emporium. The buttons were hand-made from horn. I really like the spiral design on them.

In the lessons learned department: I’ve been knitting socks two at a time. I decided that could work for sweaters also. So, using three of my Noro balls, I cast on for both sides of the front and for the back all on one big circular needle. Now, it was nice to have the cables on exactly the same rows on all three pieces, to know that the armholes match up and the V-neck starts at the same place on both sides, etc. But keeping three balls of yarn untangled is a talent that I don’t seem to possess. I had to stop every couple of rows and untangle everything.

finished sweater

I should probably have given up and gone back to doing one piece at a time, but I’m too stubborn to admit defeat. Besides, I kept remembering how nice it is to finish both socks at the same time… and that never-worn sweater I knit when I was a kid that had a front 1″ shorter than the back because I got tired of the project long before it was finished and thought I could “fake it.” So I continued on, untangling as I went.

All in all, I’m quite pleased with the finished result, as it does have the same slouchy goodness that the picture in the book shows. I should have knit the arms a bit shorter, but they’re OK if I roll the cuffs up. I might take them out. But probably not.