My Boatneck for Two KAL partner Bron and I managed to finish our boatnecks at more the less the same time! We’ve been on track together through this project without any prior planning. It’s very twilight zone. In a good way! It’s been an extra dose of fun to watch her project come together and chit chat with her on mods and schtuff. So Bron suggested that we debut our FO’s at the same time, this fine Monday morning.
The jacaranda’s are still in bloom along a particular street in our neighborhood, and it seemed a perfect FO photo location. These trees are one of my favorite things about spring in SoCal. Yes indeedy, I am standing in the middle of the street. Fortunately, at twilight on Sunday, this road is not heavily traveled.
Deets:
Cotton Classic Boatneck Pullover from Tahki Stacey Charles
Rowan Handknit Cotton in indigo blue, 9 skeins
US7 Options
Size: with mods about a 34″ chest
This pic is a similar view, but I think the details are bit more visible:
Mods: Where to start? The yarn sub was the biggest. The pattern calls for 20sts/4 in and with the Handknit Cotton I got 18sts/4 in. But it’s a fairly simple shape, so I took a stab at jiggering the numbers to get something in the ballpark of a 34″ chest. The only thing I really had to specifically adjust the for was having a multiple of 4 for ribbing, and allowing a certain number of stitches for the cable panels and distributing the remaining stitches evenly between them.
Of course my row gauge was bigger too, so I needed only 3 repeats of the cable pattern to get to about the specified length. On the armscye, I did 2 more sets of binding off 2 stitches on each side before switching to 1 stitch on each side so that the armscye wouldn’t be too long to get to the required number of stitches at the top.
The other biggest mod – I decided to go with a shorter sleeve with turned cuff. I knit the ribbing for 7 inches before switching to stockinette to give a substantial cuff. They were meant to be more like 3/4 length, and I was eyeballing the arm length and armscye length as I went, and they both ended up a bit shorter. I had to block a bit more length out of the armhole depth to get a comfortable fit. But that is just fine! Better than too long. The cuffs get a little crumpled being bent in my elbow, but no biggie.
Some detail shots:
I made the ribbing panel on the body more narrow than the pattern called for in anticipation of such a wide boatneck. I have teeny narrow shoulders, and so I almost always compensate to the smaller in this area.
I goofed on the waist shaping I added. It blocked out fine, but my decreases were too rapid and I had a poof of fabric just above the top of the cable! Oops. As I was knitting the body my gauge loosened considerably, so after ripping out I ended up doing a couple more sets of decreases and then knitting straight, instead of increasing as I originally planned.
I knit the body and the sleeves in the round. And taking a cue from SoKnitpicky, I did an extra decrease row of k2tog, k3 immediately after the initial decrease row of k2tog k2. I did the specified 4 rows of stockinette before binding off at the neck.
Love the cables on the arm:
I think that’s all of the mods. If anyone’s interested in subbing a yarn at this gauge I’d be happy to share my numbers with you, but please understand that there were likely small mods as I went to shape the fit for me that I may not even remember 
I greatly enjoyed working with the Handknit Cotton. It’s 100% cotton, and for being a solid worsted weight, it didn’t feel ropy or heavy. It wasn’t very splitty, either! I was quite surprised with that. It shows the stitch patterns beautifully. There is a small amount of bias in the fabric, but very minimal.
When I blocked it, the water turned very purple! Thank goodness I washed it before wearing with a top underneath! I guess that’s to be expected with a color like this. I spun it out in the washer, threw it in the dryer for about 15 minutes, and blocked it out in the sun when it was just damp to make final adjustments to the fit. It took all this like a champ. It’s so a soft, smooth cotton and very comfy, even next to the skin.
Verdict? I love it! I am so wearing this today.
OK, off to work now! Have a great Monday!
I love yours! That really fits you well. Excellent job on the mods!
You’ve got a great eye for patterns that flatter you perfectly, and the mods to make to do so. I’m always impressed!
It’s lovely! The photos are beautiful – the Jacaranda tree is my favorite. It will be a perfect summer sweater and fits you like a dream – enjoy!
Really cute and perfect for the office!
wow. I love it!!!!! I’m going to have to move it up the queue!
Yay- very cute! And I love the sleeve length! Of course, I’m a 3/4 length gal, but still- very cute on this sweater!
I love it! I love the sleeves and the turned cuff you did — it’s really fantastic!
I love it! I love the sleeves too — especially those cuffs — really fantastic!!
*LOVE* it on you! The arm cable is my fav too. BTW, those trees are gorgeous too. It never ceases to amaze me each time I visit SoCal what an amazing variety of trees there are (some really exotic looking!) and how pretty.
Pretty, pretty, pretty! The indigo blue is gorgeous….gotta love those Jacarandas…the purple blossoms set off the indigo perfectly.
I can totally see you knitting this sweater in a few other springy colors. The style is very becoming.
Love this! As always you did a truly lovely job.
A beautiful, classic sweater! The color and fit are perfect for you. Nice!!
Gorgeous! Great job!!!! It fits perfectly.
Chalk up another successful knit! Yay! Looks fab on ya.
Another inspiring FO! It’s super cute and looks great on you. I love the mods you made on the sleeves.
BTW, I love the little avatar that’s been assigned to my comments.
How could you not love it?! It’s stunning. Great FO – as always.
Super cute!! the dark color is really great too. Excellent choice!
Gorgeous sweater. I like a boatneck; very flattering.
Now I feel guilty. I am about 600 posts behind on my blog reading and I didn’t think anyone would notice. But if you haven’t been getting comments, a few of mine are some of the ones you haven’t been getting. If you know what I mean.
I’m trying to catch up, and now I’ll work harder.
Lovely! I’ve tried keeping up with your unofficial KAL, but I’m such a slow knitter – I don’t have a hope in finishing it for another couple of weeks
Great mods too, but I’m a full length sleeve type of gal, so that’ll take longer too. Looking forward to your next beautiful project.
Oh my, what a whacky avatar I’ve been assigned
Oh, wow! Love! The 3/4 length sleeves and turned cuffs, paired with the graceful boatneck really make it for me
It looks great… congrats on teh FO!
Looks great! You’ve come a long way with your knitting skills – so happy for you!
No wonder your boss wants you to make something
Awesome sweater Jillian! It looks perfect on you. And what a great photo op to take the pics in……those trees look so nice….
It looks like you have been busy, or I’ve been absent. Probably both. I love the sweater! Might have to queue it up on Ravelry!
love it !!! is that the one you were doing here ??? pics of you are great !!!! xoxoxo
It looks great on you!! LOVE the color esp.
So lovely as always! I don’t normally like 3/4 sleeves, but that really suits that sweater. I’m impressed the cables are so er cable-y in the cotton. Go you!
It’s gorgeous! Lovely colour and I LOVE the cables…they really pop!
BEE-U-TIFUL! The color, the yarn, the knitting, the fit, and the model are all fabulous. I love the sleeve length modification. Very very pretty.
omigosh that sweater is so beautiful! I printed it off yesterday, kind of unsure if it would look nice or not…but you have definitely made up my mind!
this is a wardrobe staple – and completely beautiful! i would wear this everyday!
Wow. What a great fit. You did a wonderful job.
[...] long long time ago) Monica: I’ve had this sweater in my queue for a while now but once I saw Jillian’s and Bron’s I had to be a copycat and move it up. I’ve been following along their [...]