Meet Juno

When I first saw this sweater on Rowan last fall, I was drawn to its collar instantly. However, I wasn't so sure if that oversized collar will look good on me. Moreover the pattern call for double-strands of wool cotton, a total of 17 balls of yarn needed just for the smallest size. Definitely not my cup of tea. I did some math and the cheapest seller I found on ebay, still going to cost a whopping $130. I told myself no matter how much I love rowan's yarn. I'm not going to spend that much money for a pattern I actually have second thought about.

So I move on to other stuff and let the pattern sit on my night stand for the entire fall. Once in awhile I'd pick it up, flip to the very same page, stare at the picture for as long as I could. Imagine myself wearing that same sweater and other possibilites. Well time had passed, but my love for Juno didn't fade away. Not until last month that I suddenly got struck with an idea about substituting the yarn with rowan yorkshire tweed. I did a swatch during my trip to vegas and whoala! it came out spot on. So here you go. Long story short, I'm glad I took the time to think, digest the pattern and made the move at last. Juno is officially done and it's my favorite sweater, for now atleast. It was knitted practically in just a month time. Eventhough I didn't finish it on time for my birthday but I was happy to wear it out yesterday. The weather was just nice, a bit on the chilly side for a wooly sweater.

Pattern : Juno from Rowan 40
Yarn : 5 Balls of Rowan Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran in Thorny
Needle : 5mm for the entire sweater, 4.5mm for button band
Cost for this project: $35 for yarn & $12 for buttons, total $47



Notes about this project...Love it! I'm still amazed that I was able to stay focused and finish the sweater in about a month. Very unlike my usual self. And of course I love love how the yarn turned out, the texture, the color. It's incredible that only five balls was used for the entire sweater and a bit of left overs for seaming. Initially I bought seven balls and was worried that I didn't get enough. My math is way off. Nonetheless, I think this is definitely a winner. What say you? More pictures here.

Modifications...I didn't want a huge plunging neck line like the one in the magazine. So I added 4 extra rows before I did the decreases for collar. Other than that, I pretty much stick to the entire pattern notes. I shortened the sleeve and bodice about one & a half inch to fit my short torso and that's about it. The only tiny little problem I had was seaming the collar. First try using mattress stitch came out rather bulky. So I ripped it out and on my second attempt, I just opt for a simple whipstitch technique. The yarn also tend to break during seaming especially when I pull it too tight. But it doesn't bother as much, it's so amazing that I want more of this stuff.



Last but not least, thank you so much to everyone who left me birthday wishes. You guys are just too awesome! How I wish I can give each an everyone of you a big hug! Just so you know I actually read all of them, some more than once I must say! I also want to write thank you note to all of you but you know it's just impossible thru blogger. So if you didn't get a reply from me. I want to say " a big thank you". Alrighty, I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Did you drink some green beer yesterday or wear a green shirt atleast.