labellementeuse

Posted by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

https://www.yarnharlot.ca/2025/06/out-of-the-blue/

https://www.yarnharlot.ca/?p=9822

I was in a yarn shop a while ago and I saw a sweater and I loved it. It was short sleeved and summery and knit out of this great yarn (Cottage Fingering, 50% Merino, 20% Linen, 15% Silk, 15% Cotton) and thanks to that plant/silk ingredients, it had fantastic drape and weight. It was oversized but a little elegant, and looked super wearable. For years and years I’ve been smitten with this sort of “post-apocolyptic my clothes are all rags but I still look fabulous like the matrix” vibe, but me being me I’m pretty sure that all I ever manage is the first part of that phrase, but it never stops me from buying stuff that I think might take me over the line. The point is that I was in this shop and this sample was so great, and so I looked at the tag and was absolutely stunned to see that it was a sweater that I’ve looked at a thousand times and had no interest in – Ranunculus. (That first picture alone – the waif in the giant version was enough to put me off.) This version though… before I even knew what happened to me I had the yarn in my bag.

Some months later (like a couple weeks ago) I decided that I would knit the thing. I’ve got a shelf in the stash room where I put things that are “next” and it’s been taunting me from there so I dove in and swatched, wondering if that would take the edge off. It didn’t. It did convince me to go down an needle size and redo a little math so it would be a slightly tighter gauge but still give me the ease I wanted, and that convinced me to cast on provisionally at the beginning of the yoke and come back to the neckband at the end. Off I went.

It’s a fun knit, I give you that – I can see why so many people have made it. Fun little stitch pattern on the yoke, big needles… the yarn is a bit slow, so it could have been faster, but I was at the divide in no time, and cruising cheerfully down the body and almost ready to start the ribbing when the trouble started.

The trouble took the form of the voice of my inner knitter and she said “It’s too short”. Is it? I thought? My inner knitter has a lot experience so I stopped and measured. It was not too short, so I knit a couple more rounds to reassure her, and then started to think about the ribbing again. “It’s still too short” she muttered. I measured it again, this time lying it on top of a sweater that I like the length of, comparing the total length of the sweater. It was not too short, so I did a few more rounds to humour her and got ready to do the ribbing. (Oddly, the sweater didn’t seem to get any longer when I added those five rounds, which should have been a clue that something else was going on.) Debbi and I were together for the retreat at Port Ludlow at the time, so I announced the milestone. Debbi creased her brow and said “Huh. Really? It looks too short.” Now Debbi has a ton of knitting experience as well, so that smartened me up again.

“Really? I said? I’ve measured it twice… It’s totally the right length -remember it’s getting ribbing so it will be longer than it looks now…” Debbi brought out the big guns and raised an eyebrow, and then suggested I try it on. I dutifully got some knitters cord and slipped it on, then popped it over my head. It WAS too short, but by the length of the ribbing so it’s perfect. I knew from my swatch it was going to relax but not really grow, and I told Debbi that. “It’s the right length” I said, admiring it in the mirror again.

“Great” Debbi said, but she didn’t mean great. She meant she thought the sweater was too short. I knit a few more rounds, then measured it again, then held it up to the other sweater again, then tried it on again. It was the perfect length. Debbi and my inner voice shrugged and I started the ribbing. The whole time I was knitting that ribbing, it wouldn’t stop dogging me. Every few rounds I repeated the ritual. Measure, compare, try on. It took forever to knit it because I kept stopping to do all this – and the whole time it wasn’t just Debbi and my inner knitter who thought it was too short – at my birthday party I cast off and was about to start the sleeves and I held it up to show off to Amanda. She made a face and said “I’m surprised you wanted a cropped sweater…” I looked down, trying to reconcile what she’d said with what I was seeing. It isn’t a cropped sweater – it ends at my hip bone. I measured again. I compared again, I tried it on again. It is the right length. I don’t know why it doesn’t look like it is, but it is. Maybe it’s that it doesn’t have have a neck band yet – or that it is very wide. It has tons of ease and maybe the proportions are making all of us think that it should be longer if it is wider?

I’m about done the sleeves now (I think they are too short as well) and have thought constantly about unpicking my bind-off (I’d rather not it’s slubby yarn and a super pain) and adding more length, but I’m committed to staying the course. I’ve been down this road before and I have a too-long sweater upstairs to prove it. I have swatched. I have measured. I have compared, I have tried on. It is the right length. It is not too short. I don’t know what game this sweater is running, but I’m not falling for it.

Right?

https://www.yarnharlot.ca/2025/06/out-of-the-blue/

https://www.yarnharlot.ca/?p=9822