Lopi Destination Pullover and Jauntie Beanies

As soon as I received my subscription in the mail for Lopi, MDK's Field Guide No. 17, I knew I wanted to knit the Destination Pullover along with matching Jauntie Beanie's for Xena and I.  I was hoping it might somehow get cold enough to bust them out over my weekend in Upstate NY and I was especially hoping to show them off IRL to MJ Mucklestone (who was promoting her books and patterns at a few of the events I attended) but it was just WAAAYYY too damn hot for Lopi anything!

 

So here they are, after the fact but no less pleasing and even more comfy to wear, especially on a foggy, grey AM in SF.

 

I knit size 3 of the pattern and I used size 8 and 9 needles (one size smaller than recommended) to get gauge.

The yarn colors used in the sample of the pullover shown in the field guide were unavailable so I ordered Lettlopi (Lite Lopi) in Acorn, Golden and Lagoon Green from Webs.  So with the wholesale discount, even after taxes, it cost under 50 bucks to knit a sweater and 2 hats and even have 1 ball left of Acorn left.  From a symbolic motif standpoint, I wanted Acorn to represent mountains, Golden to represent trees/land and Lagoon Green to represent the sky.  I drew and colored in a quick little diagram so I could stay on track.

 

The pattern was relatively easy to follow.  The colorwork in the pockets is worked flat which was new to me and purling 2 different strands felt quite unusual.  I hold one color in each hand and have never been able to find the correct tension to hold both in the same.

 

Luckily I had multiple sets of the same size needles so I could work the both sides of the front/back/sleeve shaping simultaneously.  The pattern recommends DPNs on the sleeves but I used magic loop. I also followed the size 4 instructions for the sleeves.  I used a size 8, 16" cable on the neck and picked up 88 stitches (instead of 72 or 76).

 

The hats were excellent scrap busters.  Each hat took only a few hours to complete.  I knit the child large size for Xena and the adult large size for myself.

There are 5 other mix and match motifs that I can play around with for future sweaters.

  

While I love the natural and rustic ruggedness of the Lopi Icelandic wool, I would really like to try another one of these sweaters in a softer yarn.  

Tomorrow I will write up a recap of Rhinebeck and also share some of the wonderful mail I've received recently but just haven't had the time to write about yet.  My trip was so much fun, I'm still recovering!