Just in time for the arrival of winter temperatures; I present Haute Luce:
"Haute Luce" from Anny Blatt Book 197, Intemporel
Yarn Bouton D’or Candide, Color Zinnia.
My sweater is not quite like the original. As you will note here:
The original sleeves balloon just above the cuff, and have knitted and crocheted motifs appliqued to the sweater after knitting. Since I was basically attracted to the simple shape of the sweater and the YARN, I dispensed with both of these features.
Also, I messed up the shoulder shaping. As you see in the next photo, although the sweater is knit in reverse stockinette stitch, the shaping is done so that the stockinette shaping shows on the outside of the fabric, in short it is done in the reverse. I did not realize that as I knit the sweater. I was working in the car and I only had a photocopy of the instructions with me, no photo of the garment. The instructions made no special mention of technique for the decreases and I therefore did not think about making them decorative.
One thing I really like about Anny Blatt sweaters is the shaping and this sweater is no exception. I probably could have bought the yarn and knit any old raglan sweater but the results here are very nice and the shaping is wonderful, hugging my curves rather well. I did have to do some juggling with the pattern, I needed to lengthen the sweater about 2 inches above the waist shaping and 1 inch below, and my row gauge was off; matching row gauge to a written pattern is very difficult for me, even when I get proper stitch gauge. So I had to recalculate all the shaping, since I always count my rows and make my decreases by row numbers not vague measurements on a ruler. Rulers lie, or more exactly the knitter is not always meticulous about how she measures.
I started with a larger size at the hips, tapered to a smaller size at the waist, and then back to my normal medium size at the bust. It all worked rather well.
I was somewhat concerned as to whether I would get the shaping right for the raglan sleeves, what with recalculating everything and all, but it turned out beautifully. One of the nice features of this sweater is the shaping at the shoulders — the front edge of the sleeve is shaped differently from the back edge of the sleeve. This makes sense of course, our bodies are not identical in front and back. And I think the resulting garment is one of the nicest raglan-sleeve sweaters I have ever worn. I shall keep a note of the technique and the shape for the future.
One thing I did note however, is that I still get a fold along the front raglan sleeve, something that I always get on every sweater, but it is much smaller here, and pretty much follows the seam line., as you see in the photo below: ( I have no idea where that rather imperious expression came from)
Normally I get a lot of bunching in raglan sweaters. The fact that I only have one small wrinkle, and it follows the seam leads me to think that the shaping is basically good but that I should have decreased a little more at the beginning of the raglan sleeve cap, taking almost another inch out of the front edge.
I have made a note of this for the future. It will not affect my enjoyment of this sweater. I absolutely love it and it is deliciously soft and cuddly. Bring on the winter weather.
