Raindance Sweater

There was no Sweaterday this past Saturday because my Raindance Sweater was drying, and there probably won’t be another Sweaterday for a little while as I’m taking a break to churn out a bunch of smaller projects in my queue (like the Oscilloscope Shawl (Ravelry link) that I knit in two days over this weekend because I just couldn’t put it down).

But no Sweaterday means yay finished sweater! I knit this as part of the January and February Sweater Odyssey Knitalong, and in fact, today’s the last day to vote for the March and April Knitalong, so go vote for a designer KAL if you’re so inclined.

Knitting my Raindance Sweater

I knit my Raindance in just over three weeks. Part of the speed of this sweater can be attributed to a car trip up to Steamboat Springs—I recommend a three-and-a-half one-way car ride for any knitting that needs to be done. In addition to that dedicated knitting time, plain old stockinette is always a winner.

My word, I am sassy. (Excuse me while I die on the floor laughing at this photo, I couldn’t resist including it.)

I may have mentioned this somewhere before, but I was afraid that the pullover would be too short. You cast on the same number of stitches no matter which bust size you’re knitting, due to the side-to-side construction of the lower body. That means this pattern isn’t really ideal for us ladies with longish torsos and bellies. This is easily fixed by just casting on a few more stitches, if your yarn doesn’t grow like mine did.

Choosing a yarn

Quince and Co’s Chickadee yarn tends to grow a bunch. It is listed as a sport weight but I feel that it comes out more as a DK after blocking. So my sweater hits my lower body pretty much exactly where I like my sweaters to hit. This is a fluke. I didn’t swatch (again). Don’t be like me. Swatch your sweaters, please.

I love everything about my Raindance sweater. The yarn is super soft, which will be great when the weather gets a bit warmer and I can wear it without a long-sleeved shirt under it. Heidi Kirrmaier’s construction is unique and made me want to keep knitting. The instructions for the back neck trim were a little confusing but I made it work and it looks fine.

The keyhole back and small keyholes at the arms are perfect little details. I would have opted for the bow-ties, but I was going to run out of the peacock yarn. In fact, the collar is edged in the Frank’s plum because I did run out of peacock with a couple of rows to go. For those of you who took part in my impromptu and unofficial polls on Twitter and Instagram…

I went with the Hello Kitty buttons. I felt the white buttons were a bit too translucent. Of course I later found the solid white buttons I’d originally thought would go with this, but whatever, HELLO KITTY BUTTONS. Which you can’t really see in these photos; trust me, they’re wonderful.

I’ve decided this is my new “power” sweater. I feel awesome while wearing it. (You know, more than usual.) And apparently really sassy. (Though that could have been due, in part, to the ankle booties and pink tights.)

Have you knit an Object of Power? That is, a project that makes you feel like a million bucks, more than usual?