Category Archives: projects: austin hoodie

finished: austin hoodie!

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It has taken me a surprisingly long time to photograph this sweater. Ravelry tells me I finished the knitting on Sept 12! (Of course, it sat on my desk for a fair while after that, waiting for me to weave in the ends. . .)

Anyway.

It’s done, and it’s my new favourite favourite sweater. At least until I knit my next new favourite sweater.

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This is the Austin Hoodie, made with 4 skeins of SweetGeorgia Superwash Sock (her 100% merino, not the 80-20 merino/nylon) in Mist. I knit it almost exactly to pattern, once I’d finished fiddling around with needle sizes to get gauge. The only thing I changed was the turned-under hems at the sleeves – after doing the hem around the body and deciding it was too short for my taste, I didn’t want another tiny flippy hem around my wrists. I finished the sleeves in six rounds of garter stitch, instead, and they’re fine.

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The fit on on this sweater is exactly what I was hoping for. It doesn’t feel tight, but it’s definitely fitted, which I could use a bit more of in my handknits. And I cannot say enough good things about this yarn. It’s cozy soft, but not so soft that I’m worried about it holding up to wear, and the colour is absolutely fantastic. From a distance it looks purple, but up close it’s got blue and white tones that made it a delight to stare at for a jillion billion miles of fingering-weight stockinette, and make a really cute sweater.

The only thing I could wish for in this cardigan would maybe be a button to keep it closed. On warmer fall days, it’d be nice to be able to wear this done up, instead of a coat, like I do with my store-bought hoodies. Maybe someday, I’ll get ambitious and add one.

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hoodie update

That blob of purple stockinette from a couple posts ago finally looks like a sweater!

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The Austin Hoodie, which I’ve been working on pretty consistently since I started it earlier this month, is – well, it’s not really almost done, since I still have both sleeves and the hood to finish. But it feels like it’s almost done, because the body is finally complete.

This sweater is knit from the bottom up, and then the sleeves are picked up from the completed armholes and knit from the top down, which isn’t really a construction I’m used to. I’m not sure how I feel about it (it’s a really big blob of knitting to carry around) but the sleeves are coming along really nicely.

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(Of course, the fact that the sleeves are coming along well is due in large part to how many hours of lecture I’ve had in the past week. It’s a lot. I’m very proud. )

I feel a little bit like I’m racing against the weather with this sweater. I know it’ll be perfect for early fall, when things are just starting to cool off, but it’s too warm for coats. Right now, the temperature is still unbearably summery (I wilt in the humidity, it’s a thing), and I’m hoping I can get this done before fall really begins to hit.

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but what does it mean?

Finally, the purple stockinette I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks isn’t just purple stockinette! Now there’s another stitch pattern, too.

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This is the beginning of an Austin Hoodie, which I am very, very excited to finish, as I think it’d be a really perfect fall hoodie. I’m knitting it in sweetgeorgia sock, in Mist. Everything about this yarn is amazing. I have been trying and trying to take colour-true photos, but it’s incredibly difficult – it’s purple, and that always comes through, but there are lovely almost-blue undertones and subtle variegation that I have such trouble with. This is the closest I’ve come to getting an accurate photo so far:

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I crack jokes, but I actually have been enjoying the mostly-plain stockinette of this sweater. I have a secret love for completely mindless knitting projects, and this fulfills that perfectly. There are a few little details here and there (the turned down hem, the slipped-stitch ‘seams’) but mostly it’s a nice, easy project that I can pick up without thinking, and knit away while I watching TV (now playing: Season 2 of Fringe).

Also, I just really, really want a purple handknit hoodie.

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