Vodka Lemonaide

Welcome to my latest comfy sweater - Vodka Lemonade

This was a nice, "quick" knit with fun details at the sleeve to keep it interesting. The seed stitch collar makes the sweater more casual than formal and the lack of buttons on the button band means this sweater needs a shawl pin to stay closed. 

Because of the type of collar it has, the sweater doesn't always drape in a flattering fashion. The collar tends to pull the top more open. Not that this is such a bad thing. It gives the sweater a more casual feel. But, that is something you don't see when you look at the pictures for a pattern. The model stands just right and someone else fixes the sweater for her. I don't have assistants, obviously. My sweater is wrinkled and the collar is all wonky, the way it looks when I'm walking around at work.

I am considering putting a small button at the top to help everything lay in the right place.

Also, I totally picked the wrong color. I wanted a nice pale yellow for a sweater. I ordered a yarn called "canary" yellow, hoping it would be a good color. And while it is a nice color, it is definitely not a wall flower, pale yellow, wear with anything yellow. It is Y E L L O W. My camera didn't really capture all of it's obnoxiousness.

But, even with all these strikes supposed against it, this has been my go-to sweater ever since I finished it a month ago.

The most distinguishing feature of the sweater is the lace panels on the right and left front sides and on the back.

The one change that I made to the pattern was to not place two knit stitches between the lace stitches. It's hard to describe but I just dropped column 8 in the chart. When you do this, all of a sudden you get another diamond shape in the middle of the motif. This is how the lace pattern should be.

Lace panel on the left side of the front.

See, extra diamonds in the middle!

The button band is an interesting change from the normal ribbing on most sweaters. I love this one. Mine isn't in the best shape - I tend to knit a seed stitch at a different gauge than my stockinette which makes the button band a little wavy.

The casual collar

The seed stitch at the edge of the sleeves

The details along the raglan sleeves. I really loved this detail, even though at first it confused me with all of the different sections.

The lace detail from the back of the sweater

I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade...
And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka,
and have a party.
~ Ron White