As part of my quest for new adventures in fibre, I’ve just completed this crocheted , tee shirt styled sweater.  I was skeptical about how it would turn out during the entire construction phase, half expecting that I’d be frogging it in the end and using this luscious yarn for a knitted sweater instead.  I’m pleased to report, however, that the finished project is a success.

It fits well with the shaping I added, drapes beautifully and showcases the shimmer and softness of the Baby Bamboo yarn.

Here are the details:

Yarn

I used 1235  meters, or 1352 yards, { 13 balls} of Sirdar’s Snuggly Baby Bamboo in Willow 133 and approximately 30 metres, or 35 yards, {1 ball} Baby Bamboo in Minky 140 .

A warm thanks goes out to my daughter Kasia for suggesting the fawn yarn for the trim.  I had planned to do it all in green which would have been so boring.

This yarn is 80%  bamboo and 20% wool. It ‘s super soft , has beautiful sheen, and it’s lovely to work with.  The sweater ended up being a bit pricey though at $97 Canadian.  I did see the same yarn for $1.00 less a ball{$5.99 at Gina Brown’s Yarn Store in Vancouver} than what I had paid for it in Edmonton. That would bring the price down to $84 Canadian.  Any sport weight yarn would work for this sweater.

Pattern

The pattern is my heavily modified version of a shell pattern in an old crochet book I’d picked up at a local yarn store’s closing out sale.

Using the shaping ideas from the White Lies Shapely Knit Tank pattern for inspiration, I added side and bust shaping to my crocheted tee.

I also lowered the neckline in front a bit and added some back neck shaping. The original crochet pattern was just a series of rectangles put together to make a {sort of} sweater shape.

Sometime in the near future I’ll pull the ideas together into one pattern and post it on this blog and on Ravelry. Look for Island Time in the patterns section.

Forcing myself out of my comfortable knitting zone into crochet was inspiring, productive and just plain fun.

I wonder what my next fibre adventure will be…

Posted in knitting