Nihon Vogue - Vneck Pullover Sweater

Here are photos of another recently finished creation for the Nihon Vogue class. I am especially proud of the complexity of this stitch with the hourglass shape by yarn overs and ktog's to form the mini cables and lace eyelets. It took much longer to knit this sweater than I had anticipated - mid way through I was beginning to regret my decision to take on such an involved garment with so little spare time to complete it. I have always shied away from lace patterns. Actually, 'running from the room screaming' when I see a lace pattern is more like it. Other than two puny scarves I made for my sisters a few years ago, I have not had the courage to tackle any project involving lace stitches. I steadily kept at it on the Vneck and after several late nights over a few weekends, I was able to declare victory! In the end, I am pleased with my choice of stitch pattern as it provided quite a learning experience in pattern matching on side seams, decreasing around arm holes and V neck diagonal lines the front. I graphed EVERY SINGLE stitch in pattern for shaping on the armhole curves, neckline and shoulders. The sweater is made of an alpaca and merino wool yarn and I had to keep in mind the lack of 'memory' or natural tendency for alpaca fibers to 'stretch out' when designing the pattern. I'm not especially fond of Vneck type sweaters (although they seem to be a favorite style of Rob's) . The techniques used to center a stitch in the bottom of the V (in alignment with the center stitch of the front garment pattern) and to adjust the ribbing on either side of that single stitch is one I hope to have mastered for future projects.