Geranium Leaves

There has been a bag of RYC Cashcotton DK in the colorway “Geranium” in my stash for years, and I finally decided it’s time to use it or lose it. For such a bright color, I figured a pullover would be a better choice than a cardigan.

Browsing through the patterns on Ravelry that I’ve queued or favorited, I thought that the Phyllo Yoked Pullover would be a good match.

The pattern is written to knit the front, back, and sleeves bottom up, then seam them all together and work the yoke in the round. Since I wasn’t entirely sure about the sizing of the yoke or even if I’d really like the sweater in this yarn, I decided to start with the yoke. If I like it, I’ll pick up the stitches for the body and sleeves and work them downward.

The chart for the yoke is a little tricky, because you work the last stitch or two of a round with the first stitch or two of the next round, depending on where you are in the chart. I got a little confused at times, but just relied on reading the knitting to keep on track. But then I came to a bit of a change in the pattern, and wasn’t sure which stitches needed to be knit together to start the next round. I thought it might help to take a good look at the closeup of the yoke in the pattern photo in the book.

I spent quite a while squinting at the photo and my knitting, and finally figured out what to do. It wasn’t until after I’d been looking back and forth between the photo and my knitting before I realized that the yarn I’m using is almost exactly the same color as the yarn in the pattern photo. Yes, I’m slow sometimes.

Actual color is somewhat in between the two photos above.

And my project name? The designer, Norah Gaughan, said the ‘phyllo’ was for phyllotaxis, which is the arrangement of leaves on a stem. Geranium, of course, is the color.