I finished knitting my Carpino sweater weeks ago. After doing all of the finishing and trying it on, I decided it was too short, so I ripped out the ribbing, and re-knit it a few inches longer. With my busy schedule, that took a while. Then, it took an entire week to get some photos of it. So, here, a little delayed but better late than never, is the finished project:
This is my first time knitting with Brooklyn Tweed Loft. I must say the yarn is not what I expected. The knitted fabric is very fleece-like; it really has the feel of a sweatshirt. I am not sure what I think about this – after all, if you wanted to wear a sweatshirt then why knit a sweater? On the other hand, I’ve only been wearing it a week so I would still like to reserve judgement. There is no denying that the colours of Loft, like its sister worsted yarn, Shelter, are rich and tweedy and lovely. I wish I had used one of the lighter colours to knit this as the lovely lacey pattern on the front is somewhat obscured in this dark purple. I tried wearing it with a white tank underneath so that the lace would show up, but it wasn’t the most successful of styles:
Still, it is a nice photo of the shape of the sweater. If I were to knit this again, I would use a different yarn and a much paler colour (I keep imagining it in a silk blend in a very pale blue or pearl grey).
The pattern is Carpino, and is designed by Carol Feller of Stolen Stitches. I really like Carol’s designs, and as this is the third one I’ve knit, I knew that the fit would be good and the pattern would be clear. I was not disappointed. Except for making it longer and using my normal bindoff (rather than the super stretchy one she recommends) I made no changes to this at all. It’s knit exactly to pattern. It is an extremely well-written and intuitive pattern and quite a fun knit. I have at least two other Carol Feller sweaters on my short list, so its unlikely to be my last.
I realize that my last three projects have all been purple. I seem to be stuck in a purple theme here. In a complete and total change of subject, for some reason this reminded me of the purple man, a character from my childhood. When I was in junior high school, my dad lived in Manhatten, just off Central Park West, and my sisters and I used to visit him on the weekends. One of the neighborhood characters was a man who was always dressed entirely in purple – purple coat, vest, shirt, trousers, socks, shoes, hat, tie. He even rode a purple bicycle. We would see him frequently and to us he was a beloved part of New York – like the pickle man on the lower East Side. Once, after many years of seeing the purple man on his own, we were out walking with Daddy and came across the purple man walking hand-in-hand with a purple woman, also dressed head-to-toe in purple. It was a magical moment, one in which I really thought that there was someone special out there for everyone.
Doug took the above photo in our back garden, just as the light was going, late in the evening. I think its kind of pretty. In fact, Doug took 171 photos of me in this sweater, so that I could find a few good ones to show you. I’ve put on weight since I started knitting it (business school should come with a warning label – “Business school makes you fat!”). There were photos that looked like this:
And photos that looked like this:
And there were about 150 photos that vanity won’t allow me to publish.
I submitted a big paper this week for b-school, so tonight I am on holiday. I have poured a glass of wine and plan to pick up my needles and knit something not-purple.
I do so love reading your blog, it always makes me smile :-). Thank you for taking the time to share.
Thank you so much Nik. It’s getting harder to keep this up with my schedule these days, and I appreciate the support.
Loved the purple man (and woman) story. And Doug’s photos are good as always.
I knit a sweater for my 23-yo son in Shelter and found it an oddly rustic yarn. Weird feeling at first. But it appears to be holding up well and doesn’t show the dog’s fur at all. 🙂
I’m glad you liked the purple man story. I hadn’t thought of him in many years. Rustic is the right word for Shelter. It takes a bit of getting used too but I love its colours and the loftiness of the fabric.
Since purple is my favorite color, I love the story and the sweater!!
Hi Gretchen, lately purple seems to be taking over for my red and green obsessions. Glad you like it!
Your blog is wonderful. I too love to knit, enjoy a good celebratory red wine, and I completed an MBA several years ago. I can relate to your happiness once another paper/project/exam is done. Hang in there…
Wow. Thanks for the encouragement! I have just finished up the dreaded team presentation and am now powering through finance. So nice to have knitting as a peaceful interlude.
Hello! What a splendid jumper! I have some pale purple loft in my stash, and lots of other purple yarn for that matter. I have the opposite problem, I was told last year in a class that “purple is your colour” and I went out and bought loads of mauve yarn, the thing is I like yellow, and I never knit with the purple and it’s now starting to guilt me out! What should I do? Lol!
Purple goes with yellow surprisingly well, Jen!
It does! I wish I didnt have so much purple wool!! Lol x
It looks fab! I see the pattern but yes, I feel like in the end we are all supposed to just knit sweaters with lighter colors and buy our darker ones. Sigh! Hope you enjoyed your little celebration. 🙂
For years I have wanted a black sweater, but I can never talk myself into knitting one. All that effort and then you can’t see the stitchwork.
This post made me laugh! It looks like you had a great time taking the photos.
I’m in love with purple these days as well. Can’t get enough of it, as a matter of a fact. I think I’m evolving out of my blue and gray phase LOL. Bring on the purple!
I adore your reminiscence about Mr. Purple meeting his match. I’m sure it was a sight to behold!
I can’t believe how hard it was to get a reasonable photo. I was worried we would break the camera.
Gorgeous! I have this sweater on my needles! The fleecy hand, did that happen after you blocked? The yarn feels a little scratchy to me right now, I’m hoping for a softer hand after I block.
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