Garter Lace Jacket Redefined

Way back in 2009, I wrote Simple Style, a collection of designs based on simple knitting techniques.

simple-knits

I’m still fond of many of the patterns in that book, one of which is my Garter Lace Jacket, knitted from Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo, a 50-50 mix of wool and bamboo that’s no longer available. At the time, bamboo was a relatively new knitting fiber and I was not as informed in how fibers behaved in knitting as I am now.

The problem is that bamboo is a slippery fiber that can stretched and grow under its own weight. I failed to take that into account when I measured my gauge. (I should have allowed the blocked swatch to hang for a day or two before determining my row gauge.) The result was that the sweater grew even as it was being photographed. The shoulders sagged and the armholes became too long. I always wished that I had knitted the sweater in a “stickier” wool yarn.

I’m finally getting around to it. I’m going to re-try the design holding two strands of Marianne Isager Yarn together: laceweight Wool 1 (100% wool) and fingering weight Alpaca 2 (50% wool, 50% alpaca), for an overall sportweight gauge.

yarn and photo

Although alpaca can also be slippery, I’m fairly confident that the “toothy” non-superwash wool will dominate. But, I plan to knit a sizeable swatch and allow it to hang for a day before I calculate my gauge.

Stay tuned.