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Dragonflies Jumper

I wanted to finish this pullover, by Joji Locatelli, before sitting in on one of her classes.  Kind of like reading an author’s book before hearing them speak.  It just happens that I recently won this pattern in a giveaway by the crazy-talented Elena of Elena Knits.  So I did a late-night knitting cram session before we left for Fort Worth.

I finished the sleeves, two at a time, then I steam-blocked the lace body to make it wearable before we left.  That left picking up stitches for the ribbed neckline on the drive.  My hope was to start Veera Välimäki’s Twenty Ten and get partway through before attending her classes.

It’s good that I had a seven hour drive ahead of me.  I re-did the neckline several times and still feel like it’s a bit high, though the fit in the arms is awesome.  Amy Herzog’s Craftsy course has me totally paranoid of tops that give you a low bust.  The clinical term is LowBustphobia, or maybe that’s the hashtag, I can’t remember.   I can’t help but like this higher crew neck.  It makes me think of raglan t-shirts I wore in my early twenties and teens.  It also came out very similar to Isabel’s sweater, which I emulated with my modifications.

One caveat: I haven’t actually done a true wet blocking on this.  It may be loose when I’m done and that may make a difference.  But I’ll think about that tomorrow.  Lets look at pictures of it while it fits perfectly, shall we?

 I used a good basic yarn I’ve never tried before, Valley Yarns Northampton.  I found it comparable to Wool of the Andes or Patons Classic in the way it knit up.  I can see using this for sweater quantities in the future, especially when it’s on sale.

I got gauge with a size 3 needle.  I’m still using only bamboo circulars, since realizing it helps me keep a consistent gauge, plus I opted for the much looser English knitting style, since it’s second nature to me.  I needed no added distractions while working this heavily patterned pullover.

My mods followed Isabel’s, except that I switched from the lace pattern to the bottom 2×2 ribbing on row 5, I think.  See below, where I realize my shoes match my sweater.

I wish I had a before and after of the steam blocking process.  I think my husband wondered why I stayed up so late to finish knitting a drab, olive mess.  That is, until he saw it blocked.  That earned an audible “Wow!”  I was a miracle worker… a tired, obsessive miracle worker.

(more on ravelry, kollabora, flickr, and instagram)

I will talk about my classes with Joji and Veera next time.  I came home to much busy-ness, a set wedding date for my daughter and her fiancé, tons of laundry, and the Holla Knits KAL 2015.  I’m late casting on for it, too, so why not join me?

My other post on Dragonflies is here.

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23 Comments

  1. It looks great on you! I don't think you need to worry about the low bust thing here, the patterning and raglan shaping add enough interest in the bust area that it breaks it up (in my opinion) plus you're a petite person, so I don't think the effect would be as drastic on you as someone who is much wider (a crew neck is disastrous on me since I'm roughly twice your size).

  2. I love how your dragonflies jumper came out. Blocking is kind of a miracle, isn't it. I'm also always worried before wet blocking a sweater just in case it grows and all that work and perfect fit are ruined. Wool can be unpredictable sometimes. I'm glad that you had time to finish it (even if it was in the car ;), and I hope you tell us how the class went.

    When I was younger I used to have HighBustphobia. True story.

  3. that yarn looks really good (and the sweater is amazing!!) I'm afraid of big projects because it's such a big investment, I need to try a few of the brands you mentioned 🙂

  4. Why not, Heather? I'm compleyely following your progress on Cafe Au Lait. I wouldn't be making it now were it not for you. Mine is moving very slowly, though. You would love this stitch pattern. It more complex than some, but there's no waist shaping, so it makes up for it.

  5. Thanks for the encouragement, Alicia! My understanding was that a bust doesn't have to be big to be low. This line of conversation cracks me up. My son heard me listening to that Craftsy class and finally he closed the door of his room, saying, "I don't want to hear the "busy" one more time. ".

  6. Thanks, Rebecca! This one has been in my list for a long time. I can't believe I've never knit one of Joji or Veera's designs before.

  7. Ha, that was it!! Its a great class, but the next day I saw pictures of me in Beatnik at my grandfather's birthday party and became a little paranoid:)

  8. Thanks, Ine! I'm planning on washing it very carefully so as not to stretch anything. I usually go down a size because of gauge issues, but for this I stuck with the correct bust size and hoped for the best.

  9. Thanks, Lea. It was a minimal investment. Northampton is about $6 for 200+ yards of worsted. So this sweater would be $24 at the most. I got mine on sale, though, so it was under $20 – I think. WotA is similarly priced and they have sooo many colors.

  10. Thanks so much, Sasha! This pattern was well written. I didn't have to make mods at all, I just like ribbed hems. It's pretty impressive too, when finished. You think, "Wow. I really made this?" Then you wear it all the time to show off how accomplished you are 🙂

  11. You know, I thought that stitch looked familiar. It looks just like the Umaro blanket I just knit for my Mom, but without the moss stitch in the centre of the diamonds! That is a lovely stitch a fun to do.
    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/umaro

    I'm so excited that you're also knitting Cafe au Lait! I enjoyed knitting *coughtaggingcough* along last year with Eastwood, so I think this'll be fun. 🙂

  12. This came out beautiful, looks like the perfect fit. Fingers crossed the wet blocking won't change much.

  13. Looks great! I have yet to knit any of Joji's patterns, but I have yarn and the pattern for quite a few of hers. I have made one of Vera's shawls and I love it.

  14. Me too. I, um, haven't blocked it yet. I'm going to wear it until it's filthy apparently, then I'll wash and block it. 🙂

  15. I find it surprising that you haven't knit one of Joji's patterns. You have knit such a great volume of things. I thought I was the only one. I think we get kind of locked into our ravelry groups and KALs and sometimes don't venture out. But SSKAL always makes me want to knit from Joji, so I'm glad I finally did. I'd love to see how you'd knit one of her lovely patterns, Patricia.

  16. Yeah, I actually own 4 sweater patterns of Joji's and 1 shawl pattern. I also really want to knit the latest cardigan she just came out with. I think my problem is, one there are too many designers that I want to make almost all of their designs, and two being this past August I got a full time job, plus I am still in grad school full time so I have been making a lot of small stuff and not so many sweaters recently. I am hoping to change that after I get a few more lingering projects off of the needles.

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