I’m a mathematical genius! How do you make a sweater with yarn that costs $225 and end up making money?? Here’s Susan’s creative math:
Tahki Tinka (100% merino): $9/skein x 14 = $125, plus
Filatura di Crosa Superior (70% cashmere,30% silk): $25/skein x 4 = $100
Total = $225
$225 minus Webs regular discount = $170
$170 minus generous Webs Gift Card = $70
$70 minus $65 unexpected monetary windfall = $5
$5 PLUS 3 unused skins of Tinka ($9 x 3 = $27-5 = $22) = I made $22!!!!!!! Yay!!
At least, that’s how I see it 😉 .
The sweater that gave me such a fabulous return on investment is Leyfi by Romi Hill featured in the Fall 2010 Interweave Knits. This sweater grabbed me right away and looked like it would be a- fun to knit and b- easy to wear. Both statements proved to be TRUE.
Leyfi by Romi Hill in Tahki Tinka and Filatura di Crosa Superior
The design is truly ingenious. As you work the sweater from the top down you are amazed at how Romi put it together, enlarging the leaves to widen the yoke. I used the same yarn as Romi: it is luxurious, butter soft, heavenly…which makes me worry about pilling. Time will tell.
MODS:
I did make a couple of changes to the sleeves: Romi’s design does not include any sleeve shaping — they stay the same width to the wrist and have a bell shape. I did decrease 20 sts along the length of the sleeve.
Also, I did not finish off the leaf patten as described. I did not do Chart D at the end of the sleeves. Instead I finished Chart C after Round 6 and then started 6 rnds of stockinette (it would also work to knit to Round 8 and then do the stockinette). I increased at the center point on Rounds 1 and 3 of the st st (knit to center st, YO, k1, YO and then twisted the YOs on the following rnd). On rnd 5 and the bind off round I did a central dbl dec. I got a very nice point to the sleeve.
At the bottom hem, I bound off using MY stretchy bind off (not Jeny’s!): k1, (k1, YO holding yarn across needle to back, pass two sts over YO) repeat within ( ) to end of row. Otherwise, it did not have any “give” and just seemed too restrictive.
Grade:
Pattern: A
Yarns: A
Fit: A
I do think many of the new, bulky yarns would work very well and cost less…though, could they cost less than a minus $22??!!?
