Vancouver V-neck progress report #1

Mary Ann Stephens' "Vancouver" by Dale of Norway

All three of my sons play football,  so I’m a very busy spectator, this time of the year.  Vancouver is the perfect project for my purpose – simple enough that I can blast through the stockinette portions without missing any action on the field, yet interesting enough at some points to make it appealling to a geeky knitter like me (or you, perhaps?).  And, it gets me into the Olympic spirit…even if I am just lollygagging on the bleachers.

I’ve read the pattern through and it seems pretty straight forward.  However, there are little things here and there that I thought I’d mention to you; things I’ll tweak a bit in mine that you might want to consider, too.

First, as always, we need to consider what needle sizes we’ll use.  Patterns really never tell you this, they merely suggest a starting point for testing as many needles sizes as you find necessary until one of them finally gets you the precise, indicated gauge.  Really, these needle size suggestions in patterns, although a standard step, are really misleading, at best.  I think there could be many more happy FO’s if we entirely did away with needle size suggestions in patterns.  If you want to end up with a sweater made to the specified dimensions, try various needle sizes – not merely the suggested size – out in your own, personal knitting tension until you find the right ones for you.  (Hint: I’m using different sizes.  I might even use a third, different size for the stranded work, too…we’ll see!)

Obviously, my yarn color is different, too.  Had to be! (BTW, that’s Daletta “mist” 2425 you see there.  Nice, huh?!

I’ve also made one minor change in where I put my markers, but I’d like you to consider it, too, for I think it makes things a good bit more foolproof.  I know it will save me from a fair bit of frogging!  The pattern has you place one marker right in the middle of each side.  Actually, with the ribbed panels going up the side, it’s super easy to see right where the middle of each side will be.  The real issue, to my mind anyway, is knowing immediately when to switch from stockinette stitch to ribbing and when to end the ribbing and revert back to stockinette.  It would really be nice to know that in real time, rather than several rounds after I goofed! Rather than use one marker at each side, I use two – one on each end of the ribbing.  Plus, I color code them – red (ok, magenta) means “Stop the stockinette!”, green means “Go back to stockinette!”.   And, dahlink, I just know you love my high-end stitch markers, yes?!

Boggled by Toggles

Have any of you seen the ready-to-wear version of the Dale of Norway Vancouver sweater? You can see a great photo of it here.  Now compare that one to the handknit version shown in DofN’s Vancouver 2010 Book 213 here.  Notice anything unusual?  Yes, exactly!  The ready-to-wear one has that funky black toggle that’s lined up on the v-neck’s diagonal, interrupting the horizontal motifs.

Of course, it does have a practical purpose: it keeps the v-neck closed up and cozy.  Plus, I suppose toggles are quite *de rigueur* these days. I’ve been told it’s quite the “upscale”, leather (oooh, leather!) toggle, too.  But honestly, even though I really do like some toggles, you’ll never see me wearing a black, cockeyed toggle smack dab in the middle of a pastel sweater!

Okay, now that I’ve gone way out on that limb, I suspect that some of you might really like that toggle.  Come on, don’t be shy – speak up!  I’d love to know what you think of it, either way.  Interestingly (okay, surprisingly) I’ve already had a couple of customers ask me if they can get it for their handmade versions. I’m looking into it with folks at DofN and I’ll let you know, either way. If it makes some knitters happy, I’d be happy to get it for them (if I can.) I do know many knitters are determined to make exact replicas of the DofN ready-to-wear sweaters, and if that’s what makes it fun for them, I’m all for it.  But for my own knitting, I’m the exact opposite (as you probably could have guessed from my Vancouver virtual swatching, a few posts below ) – mine simply *must* be different!

So, there are two things I wanted to discuss with you guys:  First, just what do you think of that toggle?  Am I just blind to the sartorial splendor of cockeyed toggles? Could be.  Second, what will those of us who have nixed the toggle idea do to effect a similar, practical type of cozy closure on our v-necks?  Well, a few ideas come to mind.

The first thing that popped into my mind is probably the cheapest and the easiest:  a snap, maybe two snaps.  Simple and unobtrusive, yet tasteful and effective. Too simple, perhaps?  Okay, how ’bout a mini I-cord toggle loop worked into the edge of the v-neck at that same point and a (hopefully tasteful) button… even a toggle button, if you’d like…right there on the other side of the neck edge, so that you’d get that same amount of closure, but in a less visually interrupting way.  Of course, you could always just sew the darn toggle on straight.  Other ideas?

Decisions, decisions…

I really want to make the new Vancouver v-neck, but I’m not the copying type. As much as I like the light blue model…

Vancouver 2010 V-neck by Dale of Norway

I feel the need for a different colorway. So…

My custom Vancouver colorways using the same Daletta yarn

I’ve been playing around with some possibilities. Whadyathink?I have some favorites in mind, but I haven’t narrowed it down to just one.  Which one do you like best? (And will someone please get that nice girl a decent pair of shades?!)