This is about a sweater I just finished. Despite the title of this post, I really love the sweater – what was breaking my heart was the yarn. Like all heartbreaks, this one is a bit of a saga. Here we go.

I very seldom buy the actual yarn specified for any given pattern. I tend to raid my stash first, then look for sales. So, as much as I love the Rowan patterns and books, I’ve knit very few items designed by Rowan in Rowan yarn. That changed last fall when I fell head over heels for a sweater called Voyager. It called for Rowan Big Wool, which is very thick yarn, much thicker than anything in my stash. I looked around but couldn’t find anything comparable. Fortunately, I discovered that my favourite colour – 28 Bohemian, which is a two-tone red – was discontinued. It was on sale at half price.

Even at half price, 14 balls was a hefty investment. I was a bit stressed about the cost of the sweater before I even received the yarn. But it arrived and I loved it and I cast on immediately. The pattern stitch on the sweater called for a purl 3 together, which was a bit of a challenge, but I persisted and knit it all up. Then I tried it on.

Oops. It looked TERRIBLE on me. I didn’t even sew in the ends – I frogged the sweater immediatel and returned the yarn to the stash.

But I still loved the yarn. And it had been comparatively expensive. I had to use it! I tried a number of other sweater patterns, but nothing worked out. I didn’t get gauge or I didn’t like the look of the stitch or whatever. Finally, I decided to just knit a top down raglan in it. This is a really easy pattern and always results in a sweater that fits. There’s a tiny bit of math to do for the neck, then you knit, and periodically try it on as you go. Easy! I knew I wanted a cardigan that was more like a jacket in length. I knew I wanted a big collar. I knew I liked how the yarn looked in seed stitch and wanted the hems done in that stitch. So, I did my bit of math, and started knitted.

The one thing about knitting with big wool on big needles (9mm!) is that sweaters get done fast.

Here’s the sweater that resulted:

What I did for the collar was cast on a lot of stitches – I think it was 80. I knit the edge the same as I’d do the hem (should have done 7 rows instead of 5, but there you go) then worked for several inches. I then decreased down to the neckline, in exactly the same way as I’d increase for the raglans. The really cool thing is that the collar kind of curls up against my neck. I didn’t expect that but I like it a lot.

And here’s a detail of the back:I added a kind of a pleat at the centre back to add ease of movement. I also added a passamenterie frog back there, to echo the fasteners at the front – these are done in I-cord.

The one complication is the weight of this sweater. It used 12 100g balls of yarn. That means it weighs 1.2 kg or almost 3 pounds. (It is heavy. It was a huge mound on my lap when I was knitting the last rows!) So, I had concerns about the weight of the sweater stretching it down. I added I-cord inside the collar to ensure that the neck keeps its shape. To do this, I picked up all of the purl bumps on the row where the collar becomes the coat, then knit applied I-cord right across, sewing in the ends. I also used anchor buttons behind each of the buttons you can see on the outside. This ensures that the button never rips free of the knitting, or tears the fabric. Either of those things can happen with weight.

I could have made it longer – I have two balls of wool left, which would have given me another 7 or 8″ of length – but I thought I’d be less likely to wear a coat than a jacket. I think I’ll make an earflap hat with the rest of the wool. I need a red one.

What do you think of my heartbreaker? Do you love it as much as I do? Have you had a knitting project that came together when you thought it might not?