Stone Washed Sylvi is Finished!

So, my Sylvi is finished!  I think this was my longest planned, most put off, hardest worked on, most sworn at and awesome project yet!

I was was first asked to make this jacket back in August 2014, but between other projects and orders that came along, I just kept pushing it off.  I also was completely intimidated by the intricate pattern on the back and the charts I was required to follow to make it.

I didn’t have a lot of experience with following charts and I honestly thought I would hate it, so even though I was looking forward to making it, I took every opportunity to push it back.

As it turns out, the back was my favorite part of the project.  Watching all of those vines come off my needles was so rewarding!  I learned a lot about following charts, mainly that I really need to color code the different cables so that I don’t get confused and use the wrong one, that made a massive difference for me.

I was asked to make the jacket to showcase the Scheepjes Stone Washed at a yarn show in Cologne a few weeks ago.  Initially I was going to use the Stone Washed XL yarn on its own but I had a lot of trouble getting the requried gauge, so I had to experiment a bit.  In the end I chose to knit the project double stranded with one strand of regular Stone Washed and one strand of the XL, both in the same color.  This made the project a little heavier but got me much closer to the gauge I needed.

With this being an order with a timeline I had to meet to get it finished, I (as usual) did what I usually do and put it off just a little too long and ended up in a time crunch for the most difficult part of the project… the blocking and assembly.  This is where the swearing came in and it’s the point of any project where I temporarily fall totally out of love with it.  In hindsight, there are a few things I would have done differently.

The one thing I would definitely change is how I did the leaves for the flowers. In the pattern it has you put stitches on markers around the bobbles and go back later and pick up two stitches, knit the leaf, and later sew it on.  I found this to be terribly monotonous and awkward.  It requires you to somehow block the leaves together with the back of the jacket and it’s quite fiddly to have this big piece in your lap while trying to knit the leaves onto it.

When I got to the hood portion of the project, I did the smaller leaves differently.  I just cast on two stitches, knitted the leaves, blocked them on their own and then sewed them into place after the fact.  This was SO much easier!  I was kicking myself that I didn’t think about it for the larger flowers on the back, but like I said… hindsight!

Another thing I would change is the cuffs on the sleeves.  I did change them a little bit, making them round rather than overlapping as the pattern suggested.  I just felt like the overlap would be way too thick in the end.  My cuffs ended up looking ok but the method for making it (knitting the cuff sideways, picking up stitches along the side and knitting the sleeve) was again, quite monotonous.  If / when I make another Sylvi for myself I will look into alternative cuffs as there are plenty of examples among the different Sylvi projects on Ravelry.

I would also finish the jacket and block it as one piece (which, admittedly, it does suggest in the pattern) because my method of blocking each piece on its own to save time and work on things in a different order just didn’t work in my favor in the end.  I found myself unable to work on the hood until the back was finished drying and that irritated me.   The reason I chose to do it differently was that I was worried it would take too long to dry if it was put together first, but it didn’t save me any time or effort in the end.

Once the jacket was put blocked, dried, assembled and fully completed, I fell totally back in love with it.  I was especially pleased with the choice of using clasps to close the front rather than buttons.  I really didn’t like the look of the button closure and when I saw it I started to worry about lining the buttons up properly, the pulling or any weirdness… it just didn’t feel right. I knew I either had to use clasps and have it not fully closed in the front, or a zipper.  As this was going to be used mainly on mannequins for display, I thought the clasps were a much better, more eye pleasing option, and I was so right!! They look fantastic!

I was a little sad in the end when I had to ship it off, because in spite of everything, it sort of became my baby… but I was really happy when I saw photos of it on display in the Scheepjes stand in Cologne.

Also?  It was made in a smaller size than I would have made for myself, so I wasn’t likely to wear it a whole lot.  This is also the reason why I don’t have photos of it on me (since I know some of you are going to ask about that!).  It just didn’t fit the way I would have wanted if I had made to my own size rather than for the mannequin.

So, in the end?  A wonderful project!  It was a wonderful learning experience, wonderfully maddening, wonderfully fulfilling… this jacket took me along the entire spectrum of crafter joy and frustration and that was pretty cool!  Will I make another one?  Well, I’m not sure… I’m torn between feeling kind of “Been there, done that” and really kind of wanting one for myself to wear.  I think I’m going to leave it alone for a while and revisit the idea a little later.  If I did make one, I think I would go for a zippered version, though, just to make it a little more functional for regular wear.

I will list the project info below, but unfortunately, between using partial skeins for different sections to cut down on joins, rushing to finish and generally being frazzled, I completely lost track of how much of each type of yarn I ended up using for the project.  If you choose to try the Sylvi jacket using the same yarns, I would suggest getting as much of the Stone Washed XL as the pattern recommends for your size and a few skeins less of the regular Stone Washed.   It will all depend on the size you choose and your gauge.

Remember to swatch, swatch, swatch for this project!  This is not a pattern where you want to just wing it, gauge matters – A LOT!

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