See! I told you you would love them. I have so many of them in my favorites and hope to knit some in the coming months. But back to Paulie. I had actually never heard of Isabell Kraemer. I may have randomly come across one of her patterns during a Ravelry search but it wasn't until one of my knitting group peeps suggested Paulie that I seriously took a look at all her designs!
As I mentioned, I had all of this KP Gloss fingering laying around for a looong time. My husband had given it to me for Christmas waaaaaaay back in 2010! I had just finished my first ever well fitting sweater and was pumped to make more. That's why I requested the Gloss as a present. What I didn't know then was that Gloss, although a lovely yarn to knit with, really doesn't wear well at all. Once I saw how shabby my Thermal looked after not that much wear I let the Gloss languish in a drawer. I mean, all that time spent to knit a fingering weight sweater, only to have it felt and look super worn after a few months... who would knowingly do that to themselves?
What really got me going to figure out what to do with all this yarn was my self imposed yarn ban. I knew I needed to knit from stash to make room for new pretty yarn. I knew I had Stitches West on my calendar and so I NEEDED space. I just won't allow my stash to spill out of it's storage space.
There's some room left in there now, but before I started the stash busting it was full to max capacity! Granted, if I were to find another place to store my sewing patterns I'd have almost a whole extra drawer to work with but alas I have not. (side note, every single time I see that wedding photo from a distance I see my father's face super-imposed over mine! Seriously kind of weird.)
Anyhow some of my Ravelry knitting buddies suggested Paulie and of all the ideas I'd had swimming around in my brain it was the most appealing option.
And so I cast on!
And I started the stripes.
ever so slowly it began to grow
and grow
and then it actually looked like a sweater,
so I was excited to start the sleeves. This is where I got stuck.
After it spent a month in a drawer because I was so bored and just had to work on something else, I took it places so I would finally finish it!
The most beautiful design element was also the most tedious.
But then it was finished!
And it fits me perfectly.
My favorite part of this sweater is the fact that it is a slim flattering fit without being at all tight. I have exactly the right amount of room under the arms and through the shoulders. This yarn is notorious for growing and I planned for that in my choice of size. I knitted a size small which is listed as 86 cm in the pattern (33.85") and I blocked it to a 36" bust which gives me around an inch of ease! I think it will still grow with wear but that's ok. I knit my usual mods of lengthening the body and sleeves but other than that I knit it exactly to the pattern specs. after wearing it for a week and getting annoyed with the collar flipping up constantly I tacked it down in 4 or 5 places to keep the shawl collar look that had drawn me to this design. The other favorite part is that i-cord bind off. I love the contrast edging and the nice finish it gives, but man did that take forever, literally over 2 hours !
All in all a good knit. I know it will not wear well, but knowing that when you start a project is much better than thinking you'll be knitting a sweater you'll have for the rest of your life and then being disappointed. Thank you Isabell Kraemer for a beautifully written free pattern. Now go! Knit something!
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