I just ran across this older photo of Vanessa Jackman’s I had bookmarked awhile back, and had a whole new reaction to it. It’s Russian model Nastya Zhidkikh wearing a sweater that Jess did the perfect swatch for in her first Swatch of the Month post! It’s fisherman’s rib knitted on proportionally large needles for an open, lacy fabric, but in this case it looks like there’s a little bit of gauge-blocking as well: The upper part of the front yoke is done at a finer gauge. If you skip over that little detail and do it all at one gauge, this would be super simple to replicate as a top-down raglan, using my Improv pattern. Seriously, it’s like Jess’ swatch, Jen’s knitalong sweater and my black lopi raglan all merged into this sweater. If you like the marl of Nastya’s sweater, you could hold two strands of fingering-weight yarn together and use even larger needles than Jess did. I like the idea of using a Shibui’s sport-weight Twig for this — a blend of linen, recycled silk and wool with an unusual texture that I think might hold up nicely to this use! And if you’re not into the visible bra trend, it would look fantastic over a little camisole.
See this post of Vanessa’s for additional photos of this sweater — same model, different day.
.
PREVIOUSLY in Knit the Look: Windowpane scarf
.
Street style photo © Vanessa Jackman; used with permission
Proportionally smaller needles or proportionally larger? I would think you would need larger needles to make a more open gauge.
I was typing too fast, thanks — that’s fixed.
Wow! I think I will have several versions! I like this one, I like your lopi version, the list goes on and on 😍
I think that by changing the gauge at the raglan level, it helps to draw it in and eliminates the extra gobs of excess fabric that raglans are so often prone to. I think that that gauge is on the sleeves as well; that would only make sense. Not that I will be making it: I find Raglans to be the most unflattering sweater style of all on my top heavy, narrow shouldered body, but its an interesting idea to consider.
Ellen, I agree! The slanting lines makes narrow shoulders look even narrower! Especially in a fitted sweater.
Nice . . . what a great idea for a light weight sweater.
eh, I’m into sheer clothing/showing off my bra. sorry mom. I like this top!!! it would be so interesting in twig
I like the gauge change on the bodice AND on the sleeves. It gives it a bit more style. It would be interesting to swatch. I think that I will at some point.
any advice on how to achieve this look? swatch for the small gauge and also swatch for the larger gauge but then what happens on the transition row?
it looks like you just start, like just change your needle and go
Lovely! I have been watching lots of Madam Secretary and she wears this type of short sleeves pullovers over silk blouses and I love the look!
When I first started scrolling down, I thought of that swatch before I got to the picture of it! I really love the “Knit the Look” posts!
Lovely look! To me, it looks like the fishermans rib actually transforms into a regular twisted rib towards the top (and you can tell by the stitch direction that the original sweater was worked bottom up).
This is brilliant!
oh my gosh, knit the look where have you been all my life! I’ve wondered so many times why there wasn’t something like this, taking popular knits and showing how they could be made! So glad I found you!
Pingback: Knit the Look: Deepest, blackest turtleneck | Fringe Association