FO: il grande favorito

Just in time to ring in the new year!

The sweater of great softness is done. I love how soft and fluffy the yarn is, especially after blocking.

But it’s light as air. It’s hard to see from a photo how pretty the yarn is – it has a silk core covered with fluffy brushed alpaca. The shiny silk peeks through the fuzz and adds sort of a tweedy look, especially in garter stitch. You can see the yarn a bit better in the photo below, and the color is more true-to-life:

Despite the fact that I don’t generally like raglans, or to knit sweaters top down in the round, I’m very happy with this one. The pattern has fewer increases on the sleeves than the body for the first few inches, which gives the raglan seam a slightly different angle – almost in between a saddle shoulder and a raglan. I also like the scoop neck of this pattern, rather than more of a boat neck that you often get.

The pattern also incorporates short rows at the bottom hem, to make the back of the sweater longer than the front. I chose not to do that for this sweater. I wasn’t sure if I’d like it, and since I did garter stitch on the front half instead of stockinette, the sweater is naturally a little shorter in the front anyway.

It’s a great basic sweater, and I can see making it in different types of yarn (smooth and fluffy), as well as making it plain or jazzing it up with some cables or other details, changing the neckline to a V-neck, etc.

Pattern: il grande favorito by Isabell Kraemer
Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Brushed Alpaca Silk, 8 skeins (yarn held double throughout)
Needles: US9/5.5mm and US8/5mm

Modifications: Garter stitch along the front piece instead of stockinette, changed the ribbing from 2×2 rib to 1×1 twisted rib, omitted the short row shaping before the hem. Ravelry project notes here.

Happy New Year!