When I saw the Riptide sweater pop up on Ravelry, I just knew I had to make it!
After blogging about my 1940’s suit, I bet Riptide is not exactly the sweater you all think I would knit – and I admit, I’m right there with you. I tend to fall on the side of ‘vintage modern’ and this sweater is totally ultra-modern, probably best worn with leggings. I’ll never – ever wear leggings – they are just not made for someone like me. lol Fine on other people of course… But I digress.
After I accidentally felted/shrunk my Channel Cardigan so bad it couldn’t be saved, I was in the market to knit up a new, cozy cardigan. Something to keep me warm on the coldest of days in my house – which can get down to a chilly 57 degrees on the worst of days.
I started to knit this one, but the intricate cable pattern was taking too long and the days were quickly getting colder here in Chicago. Timing couldn’t have been more perfect for the Brooklyn Tween Winter 2015 pattern launch – within two days I had gone to my LYS to buy yarn and I cast on that same day.
Just shy of two weeks later I had a wonderfully warm sweater knit up.
I bought 7 skeins of Beroroco Ultra Alpaca Chunky in Indigo, a wonderful navy blue color. My LYS only had 7 of the 10 skeins that I needed. I bought the 7 thinking I could find the extra three on Ravelry or elsewhere online.
Lucky for me – I ended up not needing those 3 skeins after all. I was perfectly on gauge with this sweater so it’s quite odd that I used far less yardage than was required. It was a blessing in disguise that I was not able to get all the yarn, as it would have been a waste. (I even have 3/4 of my last skein that is unused).
Before I get ahead of myself, I should add: I hate chunky weight yarn. I dislike it with a passion! You see… the patterns I’ve always used with Chunky weight yarn were patterns that had negative ease. Me, chunky weight yarn, and negative ease = disaster. I never, ever wear the projects I’ve made with that combination, not even for lounging around the house. Case in point #1, and case #2. Sure they’re great looking garments – I just don’t feel very good in them. I feel like a sausage in a large casing. Can’t say it any better than that.
But this sweater… is a horse of a different color! I’m smitten with it. I am a convert. I’ll still never knit up anything with negative ease that uses a chunky weight yarn – but I’m no longer writing off this yarn like I had in years’ past.
I was determined to keep this knit simple, with very little modifications, if any. It’s such a generously sized sweater I didn’t see the point in making modifications…
What I did modify is as follows:
- Cast-on in between the smallest and 2nd smallest size at the hem. Decreased more frequently to arrive at the smallest size at the bust.
- Shortened the yoke by 6 rows.
More details on my modifications can be found on my Ravelry Riptide project page.
Being knit in a chunky yarn – it was a really quick knit. I technically knit this up (twice) in 2 weeks.
Knowing I wanted an ultra large, layering sweater I knit it in the second smallest size giving me the recommended positive ease as stated in the pattern. I knit all the way up to the armpits and realized it was too large. It was so big it would have been roomy even on Felix. I frogged the whole thing and cast on once again.
Once I got the to fancy yoke cable decreases & Brioche stitch I was confident I knew how to knit the Brioche stitch without any pattern directions. Well… I was very wrong.
I know the Brioche stitch when knitting flat – not when knitting in the round. So once again I had to frog all the way back to the yoke and re-knit the upper bodice & neckline once again. I could have left it as it was, but I really liked the defined stitches so I chose to fix it.
So technically – I knit this one sweater twice in two weeks.
Like I said a million times already, good thing it was a quick knit!
My favorite part of this sweater (besides how wonderfully comfy it is) is the cable decreases. These kind of decreases were not only fun to knit but this method of yoke decreases really does fit my narrow shoulders much better than a raglan yoke decrease pattern. You can bet I’ll be on the lookout for more sweater designs with this type of construction in the future.
You’ll never guess what I did after this…. I found some languishing yarn in my stash and knit a second one. :D But I’ll save that for next time.
Happy Knitting!
In: Knitting
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