Little Majolica

Here it is!


Pattern: Little Majolica from Fall IK 2006
Yarn: Plymouth Galway in as close to the same color scheme as the original as possible without using the suggested yarn, Nashua Julia, which was not available to me locally.
Size: 31"
Needles: can't recall
Experience and Modifications: I changed the pattern from knit flat to entirely knit in the round. This modification gave me the opportunity to try steeking for the first time, which turns out to be not quite as scary as it seems (although it took me while - I finished the knitting before Thanksgiving but didn't get the nerve to finish it until right after Christmas).

I made steeks for the arm holes and the front neck, and as you can see, it turned out great. I used Eunny's steeking tutorial from the Winter IK 2006 issue and did a crochet reinforcement

I only have this blurry picture, but the fat arrows show the crochet

and the thin line is my cutting line.

because although my yarn was "sticky" it wasn't knit tightly enough to bind alone. The only thing I would do differently would be to sew the armhole facings to the sleeve instead of back to the body as I think it might have made it smoother initially - although blocking took out any excessive lumpiness (see pre-blocked picture below). I also did a 3 needle bind off for the shoulders. The yarn was delightful to work with, and is wearing beautifully as expected. It blocked wonderfully, and I was so pleased to be able to find the colors I needed -thank you Vicki for your help picking these out!






One thing I noticed once I started knitting this lovely pattern was that the chart is different from the knitted sample pictured in the magazine. The magazine shows 2 rows of green between each motif, but the chart shows one, and I knit it as charted. I think the one row actually fits better with the one vertical divider, if that makes sense. Also, the yellow and blue in the center of the motif are supposed to be done in duplicate stitch, although on the sleeves I did the yellow as intarsia and just duplicate stitched the center blue. On the body I did it all duplicate. Either way, it was a pretty big pain.

Elise loves the sweater, and has chosen to wear it several times already (as opposed to me "suggesting" she wear it). I have gotten so many compliments on it, and am very pleased with the result.

You can see the 2 rows in this picture from IK - not a big difference, but noticeable to me.