The Wispy Flair

I really, really wanted Kim Hargreaves' Wispy when I first saw it, but decided to wait a few days for the excitement to cool off and avoided an impulse kit purchase.  I still have the Carrie kit from last year still waiting to be cast on, so maybe it was a bit of guilt that prevented me from buying another.  And then Siow Chin alerted me to Knit and Tonic Wendy's Flair pattern.  Isn't it great to have knitting buddies? ;-)

Top down and mostly stocking stitch, like Wendy's pattern, but big front bands with two saucer sized buttons, slightly longer sleeves, and knit with Rowan Summer Tweed, like in Kim's pattern.  The Summer Tweed!  I thought I'd never use it again after using it for these two projects.  I didn't like the way those garments stretched (a lot!!) at the recommended gauge of 4 st/ inch, and depending on your color/lot choice, the yarn can be quite rough, as I found out in the stripy sweater.  It goes to show how much I liked the original tweedy Kim design to buy this yarn.  Perhaps it was not the smartest thing to just hope but I thought the tighter gauge for this pattern (4.5 st/ inch) might make it less stretchy and just crossed my fingers that this particular lot of yarn (color is Summer Berry) would be soft (it is).

The biggest modification to the pattern was the button/ button hole bands, which were knit in double moss stitch.  I had knit the 36" size, cast on three fewer stitches on each side of the neck, and used 11 instead of 7 stitches for the bands.  The buttonholes were done over 3 stitches instead of 2.  I used just two rows of seed stitch at the neck, sleeve and hem edges, so that there were no other bands to distract you from the front ones. The edges would probably roll with a sproingier yarn, but the Summer Tweed pretty much stayed where it's finger pressed.  The fabric is stiffer at this gauge, but at least the jacket isn't stretching out.  Six and a half skeins of Summer Tweed were enough for this project.

I hadn't knit much over and after the holidays.  I slept a lot, cooked a bit, spent lots of time with the boys, and lunched with the knit buds.  (Thanks to Siow Chin and Maryann for taking the Wispy Flair photos for me. :-))  Time to go... I should get cracking on those wips of mine!!

Comments

[Jen]

I love it! Thanks for posting your modifications -- I'm going to use those when I cast on for Flair.

[mel]

Very cute! I'm going to make this as well with some KnitPicks yarn. I LOVE the red tweed though! Maybe I should rethink...

[Lilo]

Il est superbe!!

[Vivian]

Hi,
Hopefully you will still get this comment and question even though your post to your blog is months old.
Lovely sweater! And now I have a question for you. I purchased this pattern awhile ago, and I was wondering if you could let me know how you changed it from a off centre button band to a centre button band. When I got the pattern, I didn't realize that the whole front was a double layer, and then I was concerned about sagging. Anyways, let me know if you can help me. I would appreciate it.
Thanks,