Lace Leaf Pullover Reveal

When I said I was on a wooly wool kick, I meant it--my latest FO, as the temperatures begin pushing past 100 with depressing regularity, is a 100% merino pullover:



The Lace Leaf Pullover!

Started in a moment of possession by EZ, finished in a few days of marathon knitting, the Lace Leaf Cardigan is the latest installment of what is shaping up to be a line of sweaters that I've heavily modified/improvised to get them to fit the way I want.

First was my Undercover Cardigan, its pattern copied off a vintage sweater before I had any knowledge of pattern design or the fear of attempting it. Then, the Graphite Shrug, which I had to modify to fit my wonky effigy jar physique. As you'll remember, the inspiration behind modifying the Lace Leaf was the need for a sweater that I could wear in a place where it never gets very cold (not to mention the desire to not look like a caterpillar in a cocoon). I won't say I'm an expert now at pattern modification--the Lace Leaf has a few wonky bits, especially in the yoke area--but I am pleased to report I'm getting a better handle on it with each modified pattern.



Specs: 7 skeins Twisted Sisters Jazz in Olive Gold and not quite 1 in Chocolat.
Pattern: Teva Durham's Lace Leaf Pullover
Needles: Size 5 circular and dpns
Modifications: Lots. The two main ones were adapting the pattern to be knit as a standard bottom-up round yoke sweater, and in a light worsted/DK yarn



The color change was not planned--I started running out of Olive Gold yarn and elected to stripe in the Brown so it looked like I'd meant to have it there all along. One of the elements of the pattern I did not change much was the detailing--the lace rib up the side of one sleeve, the leaves on another sleeve and the body. I only omitted the leaf at the collar because I didn't want to mess around with a pattern among decreases, but I made up for it with a button. In my opinion, all these elements were improved by knitting with a relatively fine yarn: it rendered all the decorative elements both subtle and detailed.



My current sweater is keeping up the wooly vein, but is at the other end of the spectrum in terms of construction. Post to follow as soon as I get enough knitted as to be photogenic!