April 27, 2016

Le Scarabée Bleu

Le Scarabée Bleu

Le Scarabée Bleu

I've knit relatively few sweaters during my years as a semi-obsessed knitter, and I feel that's something I need to fix. I happened to spot a grey and white version of La Maison Rililie's Le Scarabée Bleu cardigan at the Wollmeise spring sale, and decided it was something I should definitely knit, as well. I also knew that instead of buying DK or worsted weight yarn, which I have very little of in my stash, I should go with doubled fingering weight, which I have more than plenty (my stash is almost comically imbalanced when it comes to yarn weight).

While most of the time I don't swatch when I knit stuff like shawls (because the size is not critical) or socks (because I'm already familiar with my gauge), I've learned the hard way to never knit a sweater again without a swatch. Luckily my first swatch was exactly on gauge after I figured I should probably knit the right side rows with a larger needle to compensate for my looser purling. Thanks to interchangeable needles I was able to do that with a single circular with different sized tips on each end!

The way the pattern is designed is quite genius. I love the fit around the shoulder area, which is often an issue for me. The pleated lower portion in bubble wrap stitch is very distinctive, and the way the neckband and hem are worked with short rows is just brilliant. Obviously a lot of thought has been put into how the cardigan will fit and look. The only modification I made was the 3/4 sleeves instead of full-length ones, because I figured it would be more practical for me (and also a bit because I was sick of knitting striped sleeves with doubled yarn, with a few too many yarn cakes to wield around).

I'm so happy with the finished item!

The Ravelry project page

7 comments:

  1. What a beautiful cardigan! I love the colors you chose and the back of the cardigan.

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    1. Thank you! I'm pretty happy with colors myself, but I keep thinking I would also like a less contrasty version of the cardigan. Maybe I'll have to knit another one...

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  2. Beautiful, an unusual and very fresh choice of colors!

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    1. Thank you! I do enjoy combining different Wollmeise colorways and seeing how they turn out!

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  3. I just started this pattern but cannot find any reference regarding where to put the markers in the yoke. The instructions just state "slmA, k to next marker A". Where do the markers go?

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    1. Did you do the set-up row? That's where the markers are placed in, with PM meaning place marker!

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  4. I printed the pattern out and the set-up row did not print. Weird. Just looked back at PDF and found it. Thanks

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