Bloomsbury Sweater

Today I'd like to talk about the Bloomsbury by Svetlana Volkova.  I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it, and knew I would have to make it.  When I first saw it, I was not quite at the level I wanted to be in order to feel comfortable giving this a go.  I added it to my Ravelry queue, and waited until I gained some more experience.  Some months later while browsing my local yarn store, I saw some Malabrigo Rios, in the Paris Night colorway, that I knew I had to have.  I grabbed enough for a sweater, and waited until I found the right pattern.   I decided I wanted to make this sweater with it, but my problem was it was a slightly lighter weight yarn than what the pattern called for.  After gauge swatching, and some math,  I figured out I could use the Rios.  I had use the pattern specifications for the XXL size, and it was hopefully going to come out the size I was wanting it to be.

Luckily for me, it came out just how I wanted it to.  I love this sweater.  The yarn is so soft and warm.  It is extremely comfortable to wear.  I was stubborn when I first started though, and I didn't want to alternate skeins even though I knew I should have.  I thought the skeins were close enough in color that it wouldn't be a noticeable difference, but I was wrong.  You can see on the photo below, the change in skeins is about and inch from the bottom.  It is lighter in color.  I frogged the whole thing, and began again. This is a pretty fast knit, so it wasn't that much time and effort lost, and I can blame no one but myself.

So I'm going to say lesson learned.  Although, I am currently working on another Malabrigo sweater project.  This one uses sock yarn, and the skeins REALLY do all look the same.  I hope I don't have the same problem again.  Fingers crossed!

I enjoyed working on the body of the sweater.  It knit up quickly.  The lace on the back kept it interesting, instead of it being continual stockinette.  I finished the body and one sleeve pretty quickly.  I do have to say by the time I started the second sleeve, I was getting tired of the lace pattern since it carries all the way down until the cuff.  This sweater did sit in time out for a little while until I was ready to finish up sleeve number two.  Once I got motivated again, I was able to knock it out pretty quickly.   Overall I did enjoy this, and I love wearing it.  I usually wear a white cami underneath, and it helps show off the lace on the back even more.

Thank you again for taking the time to visit.  If anyone would like to see my other completed projects, or any works in progess, please visit my Ravelry profile.