Improvising my Weekender Light Sweater
The Weekender sweater by Andrea Mowry - we’ve all seen it, we’ve all added it to our queue. This one’s been on my list for years. And then one day I logged onto Ravelry and saw that all Drea Renee Knits patterns were on sale, so I bought both the original and The Weekender Light patterns, as well as the Vellichor top. You know, so I had options.
This year I’ve been trying to use up my stash and be thoughtful about the patterns I choose to knit. Over the summer I acquired three skeins of Harriot Fine light fingering weight yarn in Jadeite by Juniper Moon Farm. This yarn is so lovely. It’s a 75% alpaca, 25% nylon blend which means it’s incredibly soft but also durable. I’d spent a couple months wondering what I might use it for, and it seemed I had just enough to make a Weekender Light.
Then came the gauge swatch
Pattern gauge: 24 sts & 38 rows = 4”
My gauge: 27 sts & 38 rows = 4”
I knew the gauge wouldn’t be exact, especially having worked with Loft (the recommended yarn) and knowing how plump it is for a fingering weight. I chose to swatch with the recommended needles used in pattern and ended up really liking the fabric. Unfortunately, the gauge was much smaller. Since this is such a fine yarn, going up a needle size would only serve to make this fabric looser and more open, not what I want from my alpaca sweater.
Without giving away any specific details of the pattern, my goal was to achieve the fit somewhere between size 2 and 3; a 40-44” bust circumference. Knowing that, I decided to follow the numbers for size 4 for all width measurements, and the numbers for size 3 for length. After doing some math based on my difference in gauge, I felt like this would give me the closest proximation to the desired fit.
This left me with just one more concern - my yarn quantity. These 3 skeins hold a hefty amount of yarn, giving me 1,383 yards in just 300 grams. This was totally fine for size 2, but not enough for sizes 3 or 4, technically. This was just one of those moments where I hoped for the best and knew my modifications would reduce the yarn needed for the larger sizes, plus the knowledge that Andrea Mowry patterns tend to overestimate yardage required. My LYS had more in stock, and I could use the new skein with a different dye lot on the sleeves if need be.
With those concerns out of the way, there was nothing left to do but start!
This is a bottom-up sweater with a split hem, so you start by knitting each side flat before eventually joining in the round. I chose to do a long tail cast on here instead of tubular. At this gauge, I really didn’t think it was large enough to see, and definitely not for that level of effort.
Once you join in the round, you work it inside out. Despite the tiny yarn, this part really does fly by!
Once I got to the neck opening/shoulder bind off, I did a final fit check to make sure everything was hitting where I wanted. I do wish the neck opening was larger, but everything else was fitting exactly how I’d hoped. Next, I blocked the body so it would lay flat before picking up the sleeve stitches (and to see if it helped open up the neck). This helped a little, though it was still a pain to have to pick up so many tiny stitches.
Since my row gauge and my stitch gauge numbers were following different sizes, I had to do some rapid decreasing in the sleeves after joining to line back up with the measurements I needed.
A quick yarn measurement here told me I had 87 grams of yarn remaining, so my goal was to keep the first sleeve under 43 grams to have enough to finish without needing to buy another skein of yarn. Amazingly enough, it only took 39 grams, so I could breathe easy again!
And with that, I repeated the same steps for the second sleeve and bound off with a whopping 9 grams of yarn remaining.
Time for a final block
Final Takeaways
All in all, I’m thrilled with how this turned out. Final bust measurement was 42”, right within the size range I was hoping for. It’s always a risk when you choose a size based on your gauge to achieve a different size based on the pattern gauge, but this time was a resounding success!
I can’t say enough good things about this yarn either. The alpaca gives this just enough of a halo so that you don’t even notice the reverse stockinette body vs. the stockinette sleeves; it all just blends together beautifully. I’ve already worn this sweater several times and received many compliments, so I would strongly recommend knitting one for yourself!
For more info, check out my Ravelry project page.
