Blueberry Swirl

At last I have completed my swirl and am very, very pleased with it.  Its very warm and cosy and despite concerns about the sleeve length, they are perfect.  Just that touch long so they fall slightly over my hands.  If they stretch out a bit more then I will just fold the cuffs back. 

The pattern is Plum Perfect by Sandra McIver, from the book "Knit Swirl".  The yarn is Kilcarra Tweed Aran in Navy Blue.   This is one of the patterns with very narrow sleeves.  There are other patterns in the book which have much wider sleeves and longer bodies.  I am not sure you can knit only one of these.  Mum has bought the yarn for a second one already and we spent yesterday dying up part of her yarn with cake dyes for the next version.  I've not bought yarn for my next one yet... but am definitely planning a second one when I can afford the yarn. 

Being rather a small person I am often wary of this kind of garment style because the garment often ends up wearing me, rather than the other way around. However, I do love the look of casual elegance these kinds of sweaters impart.  They have a grown up, relaxed glamour that raises jeans and knit tops to a higher level, as well as working well with more formal garments.

The book states that one of the three sizes will fit almost anyone and indeed that the majority of people can wear all three sizes effectively, although your own size is obviously going to look best.  I was knitting along with my mum, who is a bit bigger built than I am.  However, we both needed a size one in our respective patterns.   Once finished, we tried on each other's swirls and both swirls fit both of us really well.  Mum made a "Shades of Grey" so the styles were slightly different.  They were finally finished on Friday and  have been hanging since then because the welts need to be hung out so they can drop and allow the back to fall straight.  As you can see, I was a bit impatient and took my photos before the back had really fallen.  It will probably take a few wearings before it falls properly straight but it doesn't look bad where it swings out and I think there is a trick to placing it on the shoulders and neckline which allows it to fall straighter. 

The photos show the jacket right way up.  This pattern can be worn upside down.  The long part at the back becomes the collar which is huge and goes up over my head as a sort of hood (I seem to have a bit of a theme going on with hooded items right now don't I?) or can be worn so the collar comes right down over my arms almost to my elbows.  The body part falls just below the waist to make a cropped jacket when worn this way.  Because my seaming isn't all that good, and is slightly tight, the jacket is a bit tighter on the arms when I turn it upside down because the seam runs down the inside of my elbow and feels a bit weird.  As the jacket softens I would expect that to be less of an issue though and I do love the look of the huge collar and short jacket.


In short, although nothing I write is ever short, this is a fabulous pattern and I would recommend the book.  The patterns are clearly written, easy to follow and easy to knit, even though they do look a bit complicated when you have a first glance through the book because the construction is very unusual.