Christmas and Easter

It's finished -- Dilys, this time made for my mom.

When my mother saw the Dilys sweater I made for my daugher (here) she said "I'd like a sweater like that!"

And I didn't ignore her "hint".

It was her Christmas gift this year, and at last, on Easter, it was finished and I gave it to her.

It wasn't a surprise -- we'd talked about it, I'd let her know it wasn't a quick knit, and I'd taken measurements and talked yarn and colors a bit.  But still, it took longer to finish than even I'd expected.

But now it's done, and I'm happy with it.  

A close-up of the back of the yoke.

With grandkids (some of them).

The pretty much perfect buttons.

The only thing I didn't get was a picture of my daughter and  my mom wearing their sweaters together -- that'll have to happen on the next holiday!

Dilys

• designed by Marie Wallin
• Knit in Rowan Tweed (as designed) but in a different color palette.  The main color (light gray) is Buckden, the charcoal gray is Malham, the black is called Pendle, and the blue is Nidd.  
• Size L with some alterations
• US size 6 needles for the body -- size 3 for the bands
• Rowan buttons RW5021 ordered from Jannette's Rare Yarns
• On Ravelry here

Changes, things I'd do differently, etc:  

I knit from the underarms in the round, steeking the front.  If I had to do it again (kind of hope I won't - I love this sweater but it is a lot of work) I would join all in one piece at that point, but knit back and forth, OR I'd change the color pattern at the yoke so there were only two colors per round.  There's a lot of thickness to the steeked edge.  I tried a crocheted edging to the steek, but wasn't happy with that - so I machine sewed and trimmed the steek.  Then I covered the raw edge with some organic cotton grosgrain ribbon (cotton because that's what I had and the color was good).  I left the steeked edge UNDER the button band instead of turned back, because everything seemed to lay better that way.  That's unconventional (some might say wrong).  Having the button band backed by ribbon meant I had a good surface to sew the buttons onto, but also meant I had to cut and sew buttonholes into the ribbon.

I used a tubular cast on and a sewn (tubular) bind off.  I'm not sure of what I think of this with the seed stitch borders.

There is less contrast between the charcoal and black than I would wish (or expected).  But the original sweater also had a rather subtle color palette.  Maybe it's all in the vocabulary (low contrast vs. subtle)?  I washed and blocked the sweater before seaming -- something I'll admit I usually don't do.  It made the sewing up nicer, but I still had to lightly steam the side seams when I was done.  Rowan recommends this, I usually ignore the suggestion, but it was fun to see the yoke all laid out in a circle.


I love that my mom and my daughter both love the same sweater -- and look beautiful (because they are) in it.  Merry Christmas and Happy Easter, Mom!