Hiro ~ a colorwork sweater in progress

Hi, Knitters,

It has been a busy week already and it's only Tuesday. Yesterday we went on yet another college tour. I've been on a lot of college tours at this point plus I grew up on the UW Madison campus. It's a lot of college around here. Next fall I will have three kids in college which is slightly incredible for me to believe. But that's how it goes.

I am also getting ready to leave for Vogue Knitting Live in Seattle at the end of the week, March 14-16. I'll be teaching and speaking and signing books all weekend. My schedule is jam-packed and I am really looking forward to all of it.

Click here to see my teaching and lecture schedule! I'd love to see you in class or at my lecture early Saturday evening right after class.

I will be signing books on Friday night in the Market at the Adirondack Yarns booth #217 and #219 at 5:30pm. You can purchase my books at the booth and please feel free to bring your own books along as well.

I hope to see as many of you there as possible! 

Now for my latest sweater adventure! I started knitting the brilliant Hiro sweater by Julia Farwell-Clay quite a few months ago but I put it down due to other work knitting obligations. About a week ago I picked it back up with the intention to finish it up and quickly. I have so many cardigans I want to knit but I wanted to finish this one first.

Click here for the Hiro sweater and cardigan pattern!

In the first photo I had one sleeve finished to the underarm and the sweater body finished to the underarm. I decided to put the body on Try-It-On-Tubing so I could get a sense of whether or not the sweater was going to fit.

I made a few changes to the pattern. I took out the waist shaping (I often do this because I don't love a tightly fitted sweater and really, knit fabric does a lot of the shaping for you because that is the nature of it). I don't love a hemmed sweater, so I took that out. Instead I did the beautiful colorwork at the bottom with a 2 by 2 rib. 

Click here to find out more about Try-It-On-Tubing!

I love this product and use it with every sweater in progress.

These were my first color choices. It's all Cascade 220.

Then my friend Suzanne suggested switching out the white with gray. For the whole sweater I did not want to purchase any new yarn, I already had all of this in my stash. I happened to have a ball of gray Cascade 220 Superwash on hand. When I put the colors together with the gray I knew this would be perfect. Thanks to Suzanne! Check out Suzanne's new cowl pattern! It's really cute.

I joined the sleeves and body for the yoke. The colorwork yoke is the best part. It's like dessert at the end of a long dinner.

The sweater started moving very quickly at this point. Hiro is very simple. The construction is as basic as you can get, which is what is so appealing and wonderful about it. The colorwork is simple. There are literally three decrease rounds in the yoke. I love this kind of sweater so much. It's pure fun. Hiro is a perfect first time colorwork pattern. It's simple and motivating. The four color mixture makes it entertaining. I love that I used yarn from my stash. You can make the worsted weight sweater tonal or use bright and different colors completely.

As soon as I added in the bright rosy pink, I felt that the sweater became perfection. I just love it.

I pulled out the Try-It-On-Tubing once again and tried the sweater on before finishing off with some short rows and the ribbing at the neck. Oh I changed that, too, from a 1 by 1 rib to a 2 by 2 and I didn't go to a smaller needle. I don't like a tight neck in a sweater.

So there you go! Isn't it pretty?

My new Hiro has been soaked and it is blocking as we speak. After it is dry we'll see what the next steps will be. I think I will end up steeking the front and adding button bands to make it into a cardigan. It could maybe use some pockets, too. 

I'll keep you posted. Maybe I'll end up loving it as is but I do always enjoy a cardigan much more than a pullover. That's just a fact. 

Take care and I'll be back soon with much more!

best, susie