Finished It Friday: Twyla

So Twyla is finished! Whew, that took me longer than expected.

The original intent of this cardigan was for a simple crochet around the house sweater. Ya, not only was it not a simple crochet project, it ended up being more tailored and dressy for just around the house.

I did a glob of mods which is one of the reasons it's so tailored (and here's something I don't say very often: it actually looks better on me than on my dress form. I am much much fuller figured than my dress form and this fits me well. I'll get some modeled photos when we have some decent light... and my hair isn't soaking wet from my shower...)

The yarn crocheted up much better than I expected. I have no idea why I even thought of this yarn for this, but I'm glad I swatched it. The silk gives it the weight and drape while the wool helps with the shape.

So let's do some project stats!

Pattern: Twyla by Berroco

Yarn: Moda Dea Silk n Wool in Sangeria (discontinued, of course)

Problems with the pattern: can't really say if there are errors, as I did so many mods that I can't verify the pattern. I will say that I wasn't even close on yardage. I had a panic that I wouldn't have enough yarn (I miscalculated how much I had in stash). According to the pattern I was going to need 2200 yds for my size. I ended up using about 1500. Granted, most of my mods cut down on how much yarn I would use, but that still seems like a huge discrepancy.

Changes to the pattern: lots and lots. I started with the sleeves, which were the same width from cuff to armhole. I'm not a fan of wide cuffs, so I chained fewer stitches then increased. I added 2" to the sleeve width to deal with my heavy upper arms. I changed the neck shaping to a more V neck (the original is a sorta crew/v combo that a lot of people seemed to have problems getting to sit right, luckily, I prefer the deep V). I narrowed the shoulders by two cluster on each sleeve. After doing the band, I didn't like the wide band around the bottom, as it changed the drape, so I only did front bands. I also changed the sc band to a textured sc stitch. I didn't do the bands around the sleeves (as even without them, the sleeves are a smidge too long). Whew! I think that's it!

Overall impressions: Love it! While my intention was for a cozy around the house cardigan, this ended up being one of the best fitting/stylish things I've made for myself. The yarn was perfect. The crochet stitch is awesome (as Matt said "don't take this the wrong way, but that doesn't look like a crochet project"... meaning it doesn't look like I'm wearing an afghan).

The only thing I'm a bit disappointed in is where I ripped back the yoke to fix the shoulder width. The stitch pattern is much more open in that section. I was hoping it would block out when I re-blocked it, but there's still quite a difference. Luckily, it's on both the fronts and back and looks like a design element.

 Now that I have all the mods figured out... I still might get a cozy around the house one done yet!

Coming Soon! Zippered Cardigans! (I have 2 cardigans with the zippers pinned in, just need to sew them... plus a third that's actually a fix).