FO: Sislana

OMG you guys is it fall yet? Can I wear my new sweaters now?

…how about now?

We did have one chilly day a couple of weeks ago, and I wore my Sislana to work and it was magical and I want to wear it all the time!

The nice thing about this sweater is that it’s not heavy, thanks to the kind of incredible yarn. Berroco Elements could be classified as “novelty” in that it’s not your traditional ply or singles yarn, but that’s a broad, broad category. Elements features a nylon knitted cord—think an i-cord knitted out of super super thin nylon thread—that’s then stuffed full of a dyed wool fluff. (I thought I took a picture of this but apparently I’m losing my mind again.) It sounds weird, I know, but it knits beautiful and that’s really all we care about, right? It’s not plied, but it’s still springy; the wool is just blown in, but the nylon adds memory and stability. Basically, it’s the coolest non-traditional yarn I can remember working with in a long time (then again I don’t work with a lot of non-traditional yarns).

The color I used is called Krypton—the wool fluff is dark green, which is made lighter and shinier by the nylon cord. I will say that the yarn can be a tiny bit snaggy—especially if you’re a gallumphing oaf like me who catches herself on everything—but the finished fabric has a beautiful feel to it and is comfortable to wear against the skin.

This picture makes me feel like a pirate. Or a VIKING.

Which is really why I wanted to knit the sweater in the first place. I love the cable pattern. It’s so easy to work and I became obsessed with knitting it. It just flows out and is so beautiful and makes me feel like a Valkyrie or shieldmaiden or something equally awesome. And I love that it’s mirrored on the back, which isn’t shown in the booklet—a happy surprise!

My friend Kristen was an awesome sport who willingly climbed into trees to help me get photos of this sweater. She’s a fantastic portrait photographer in the Seattle-area who had never shot knitwear before and I think these turned out so great. (The current processing is my own doing, because Kristen had to move house very quickly and hasn’t had a chance to do her own processing.)

Now I just need consistently cool weather to wear my Sislana all the time! (Or at least until I finish knitting any of the other eight or so sweaters I have ready to make.)