Knitted Lingerie Style Laced-Front Sweater-Finished!

The Laced-Front Sweater from Knitted Lingerie Style is finally a sweater!

I really enjoyed knitting the Brooks Farm Harmony and love the way that the rose and brown colorway worked for this pattern. I was surprised at how long it took me to sew together the sweater and knit the i-cord. 

At first, I was disappointed that, despite my extending the front panels, there was still a large gap at the bottom. It has taken me a while to get used to the style.

 

Laced-Front Sweater Comes Together

One of the benefits of knitting the Laced-Front Sweater is learning how to do an i-cord, which, after the initial thrill of creating a cord, is rather boring and best accomplished on subways and other means of transportation.

I-cord in process

At Jennifer’s recommendation, I measured the placement of the loops for the laced-front at home where I could determine the best placement and check how they looked in a mirror. My finance thought that the orange and green stitch markers I used to hold the sweater together added to the look!

In terms of sweater’s finishing, my gripe with the Knitted Lingerie Style pattern is that the directions stated to make five loops while the photo showed 6. After completing my sweater, I regretted not having another set of loops to extend the lacing.

Despite my issues and pattern modifications, I’m happy with how my Laced-Front Sweater turned out! The Brook Farms Harmony was a great substitute yarn for this pattern. The ribbing created a wonderful design although the broken rib stitches don’t really show through the colors.

Changes…Knitting Lingerie Style’s Lace-Front Sweater Begins

In addition to swatching for my Laced-Front Sweater from Knitting Lingerie Style (since my stitches always differ from the suggestions on labels and/or yarn websites), I’m  modifying the pattern slightly.

The Laced-Front Sweater uses negative ease to accentuate the female form. Further, it’s knit straight to the bust to highlight the corset-like form. Since I plan to wear this sweater more conservatively over shirts, I’ve added 3 sets of K2P2 ribs to the bottom. I will knit this larger number of stitches for 2 inches after which I will decrease for the waist. My aim is to diminish the gap at the bottom. I plan to do this for the back and front of the garment.

I was surprised that, between the selvage stitches, the pattern doesn’t start and end with either K2 or P2 so that the pattern is balanced on both sides. I modified my pattern notes to accommodate an additional 2 stitches. I’m using purls on the back to meet knits on the front.  (Note: I always make a copy of the pattern that I’m working on so that I can make notes as to the number of rows and where to make decreases so that sleeves match, etc. This allows me to keep my books in good condition while tracking what I’ve done.)

With this preliminary work done, I’ve eagerly plunged into my Laced-Front Sweater from Knitting Lingerie Style. The lush feel of the Brooks Farm Harmony is wonderful to work with, although I find that care is needed or the twist of the different fiber can create unwanted loops or bumps in the work.

Looking Ahead to Next Project from Knitted Lingerie

My brother recently sent me Joan McGowan-Michael’s Knitted Lingerie book for my birthday. The book is truly knitting eye candy! 

Joan organized the book around the different items of women’s lingerie. In many cases, her patterns creatively use the lingerie as inspiration for her design. Contrary to what you may think, many of the book’s patterns may be worn in public where the knitter’s work is visible to a wider audience (because what knitter doesn’t want to show off what she/he has made?)

For my next project, I’m using Brooks Farm Harmony yarn in brown/olive/pink from my stash to make the Laced Front Sweater. I purchased the yarn at the 2006 Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival.  What’s great(and unusal for me) is that the Brook Farms Harmony is very close in mix to wool Joan suggests for this pattern which is in the corset section of the book. It consists of 55% kid mohair, 22.5% fine wool and 22.5% silk. I have two hanks or 1,000 yards which is also about what the pattern calls for.

Here’s the wool converted from skien in my stash to two balls waiting to be knit!