Eris is wonderful and I don’t mind saying so. I made a sweater that fits like it was made for me :). Yes, they ALL are, but in fact, only some actually do ;).
All of my trepidation went out the window post blocking. It is a thing of wonderment — when all the variables came together in the right way. One small problem: The sleeves are about 1-2″ too long, but that is totally easy to fix with top down sleeves! I was also pleased that there is very little evidence of ‘rowing,’ which often happens with back-and-forth stockinette stitch. [Rowing occurs when one’s purl row gauge is slightly larger than one’s knit row gauge].
Now, here is the source of my pre-blocking angst:
The place where the collar joins the body of the sweater rolled over funny. I know that’s pretty technical talk! But it looked weird when I tried it on, and I was nervous it would not block out, but it did. Woo Hoo! Here it is after blocking, just flopped onto the table:
I think my short rows are better on the hem shaping — I had a bit more practice with my Japanese short rows by then.
The sweater fits great. I will actually post a picture of me wearing it once I get the zipper sewn in. In the meantime, here is Lucky Lettie, draped in the fantabulous Eris:
Yarn: Cascade 220, Color #9460
Needles: US 5’s (cabling) and 6’s (body)
Cost: about $60 (incl. pattern and zipper)!!!!! It only took 7 skeins of yarn! (at least I think it took 7 — I bought a bag of ten skeins and three are untouched — not heavy mathematics there)
For those of you contemplating this pattern, I say go for it. The pattern is extremely long, but it’s no more knitting than an average sweater. Jenna just provides too much a lot of detail. It is not as forgiving as the Rogue Hoodie if you have gauge issues (because of the collar and hem cabling), but it can work. The one thing I recommend is to do after-thought I-cord edging (using 5 sts) and for that all I did was omit the edge sts along the neck and hem edges. It took extra time, but I believe it was well worth it. I did this on the hood of Rogue with very nice results.
It looks great Susan.
Comment by Gale — April 17, 2007 @ 8:05 am
Your sweater looks great! Makes me want to put it on the list for next fall!
Comment by Connie — April 17, 2007 @ 8:18 am
Gorgeous sweater and beautiful knitting!!
Comment by Joanne — April 17, 2007 @ 8:21 am
It looks wonderful.
Comment by Michele with 1 L — April 17, 2007 @ 8:31 am
It’s fabulous, Susan, but you still haven’t convinced me that I could do it 😉
Comment by Marina — April 17, 2007 @ 9:12 am
Susan- It looks fantastic. I always have pre-blocking angst, but am always amazed
afterwards. Sheer magic.
(Clearly, I don’t get out much).
Comment by Lorraine — April 17, 2007 @ 10:10 am
I love it! It is so beautiful! I must get the patterns and start right away. Do you think that this would be a hard knit for someones first sweater? Expecially the collar?? I have been reading your blog for a few months and I just have to say that you both just take my breath away in your talent for the knitted art. Truly inspiring!
Comment by Leslie — April 17, 2007 @ 11:55 am
Looks great! The miracle of blocking!
Comment by Charm — April 17, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
It’s just beautiful! Lettie shows it off so well. I’ve been debating about knitting Eris for a while. I’m concerned that it would look not so nice on me because I have narrow shoulders. Could you, pretty please, tell us how wide the collar piece is from shoulder to shoulder?
Comment by Melanie — April 17, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
It looks so nice I’m feeling guilty for not working on mine! (I started something new today; I’ll post about it tomorrow.)
Comment by surly — April 17, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
now — why do you recommend the after-thought i-cord? Did the pattern have knit-as-you-go i-cord? The one time I tried to put an after-thought i-cord hem on something, it stuck out from the knitted fabric at almost a right angle.
Comment by AuntieAnn — April 17, 2007 @ 6:27 pm
Absolutely beautiful! I need to get back to working on my own Eris and you’ve inspired me. I love the drape of the Cascade 220.
Comment by Betsy — April 17, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
Woooo Hoooooooo! That is absolutely *gorgeous*! You are a knitting goddess! 🙂
Comment by Romi — April 18, 2007 @ 1:33 am