Rhinebeck Sweater the First: Ayana

If the weather cooperates (right now things look good!), you’ll see me on Saturday wearing this sweater:

Sizes: Ten sizes; intended to be worn with 1-2” / 2.5-5 cm positive ease in the bust.

Final Measurements: Bust sizes measure: 30 (32, 34½, 36½, 38, 40, 42½, 46, 50½, 54)”/77 (81, 88, 93, 97, 102, 108, 117, 129, 138) cm
Length from hem to shoulder: 21½ (22¾, 23¼, 23½, 24¼, 24½, 24¾, 25, 25, 25)”/54.5 (58, 59, 59.5, 61.5, 62, 63, 63.5, 63.5, 63.5) cm

Featured Materials: Berroco Ultra Alpaca (215 yds/197 m per 100 g hank). Shown in color 6259 Beet Root: 4 (5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8) hanks or approximately 783 (886, 944, 1032, 1075, 1179, 1252, 1359, 1469, 1579) yards/717 (812, 865, 946, 985, 1080, 1147, 1245, 1346, 1446) meters in an alternate yarn.

Gauge: 18 stitches and 26 rows = 4”/10 cm in stockinette stitch, blocked. Recommended needle size of US 7.

Pattern Notes:

Ayana is an easygoing but flattering V-neck sweater with waving rib panels to create a curvy impression. It is knit in pieces from the bottom up and then seamed together. The bottoms of all pieces are worked with faced hems. This keeps the visual interest of the ribbing while mitigating its tendency to pull in. Vertical darts are used for waist and bust shaping. On the front, the darts are worked into the sides of the waving rib panels. The waving rib continues at the top of the back neck.

(All images in this page copyright splityarn. She’s awesome.)

With minor alterations, Ayana can flatter a variety of body types. As written, the V neckline and ribbed hem trim make Ayana visually balanced; the waving rib panels do a nice job of narrowing a larger bust.

Altering where the hem falls on the wearer’s body and the depth of the hem ribbing can make Ayana a great choice for top-heavy or bottom-heavy shapes: Top-heavy shapes can expand and deepen the ribbing on the hem, or change it all to waving rib. Bottom-heavy shapes might consider eliminating the band of hem ribbing entirely. The sleeves can easily be shortened to draw attention to a curvy waist, or the ribbing on the sleeves shortened to draw a visual line across the wearer’s hips.

Vertical darts allow for extremely flexible shaping, customized to fit your body. Should you desire less waist shaping than specified, you can either omit the shaping rows entirely, or omit only the shaping on the front of the sweater. Omitting only the front shaping (or using a smaller amount of shaping on the front) can provide a very nice fit on the small of the back without stretching the sweater too tight in the waist. Bustier women can accommodate their needs by performing more increases on the front of the sweater, and not in the back. The extra stitches increased can be decreased into the waving rib panels at the neckline.

The neckline is trimmed with a rolled edge: stitches are picked up, worked in stockinette for a few rows, and then bound off. This gives the neckline structural stability without interfering with the visual interest of the rib panels.

Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca is one of my all-time favorite yarns and offers a wonderful fuzziness to the rib panels adorning the front of this sweater. I swatched the sweater in one of their more heathered colors, and it also looked great. If you’d like to substitute yarn for Ayana, I recommend you choose a yarn with some drape and either tweed or a fuzzy quality, to keep the lines of the ribbing soft.

Many thanks go out to Elizabeth Sullivan for tech editing, and Caro Benna Sheridan for taking the amazing photographs.

Ayana may be purchased here or from my ravelry pattern store for US$6.00.

18 thoughts on “Rhinebeck Sweater the First: Ayana

  1. I love this! It’s getting added to my queue.

  2. I’ll keep my eyes open for lovely you and your lovely sweater!!

  3. Beautiful sweater on a gorgeous model! Crossing my fingers for the perfect sweater weather at Rhinebeck.

  4. It’s lovely! Off to Rav…

  5. I love it!! If only I could see it in person. Nice work, Amy!

  6. It’s gorgeous! Great job.

  7. Wow. Love your color and your pattern. Still need to finish up my current sweater….

  8. I love it! Such a slimming and comfy looking sweater.

  9. I’ve been sort of in a holding pattern this week, trying to figure out what sweater pattern to knit next. I read your post and immediately knew this is what I want! I love that this sweater has classic and versatile style. I also love your ideas for modifying the pattern…. for me I think I’m going to do the decreases on the back but skip on the front like you mentioned. GREAT idea. Thank you for your quality patterns and attention to all the details. I hope we see many more from you in the future!

    Also — have a great time at Rhinebeck!

  10. That’s a beautiful new sweater! Congrats on another terrific pattern.

  11. Such a pretty design! I’m built similar-ishly to you, and I find that V-necks are, hands down, the most flattering to me.

  12. Beautiful job! And what a great color for you. I love the way the lines look on this sweater.

  13. Very interesting and beutiful pattern !
    But what I like best is your hairstyle 🙂

  14. Pattern design plus F2F plus work plus family. Yikes. I like the up-to-date without getting dated look. Means the sweater will last for years rather than one season.

  15. I love it, Amy!!

  16. Wow, Amy. Gorgeous detailing. What a classy sweater. I have been waiting until I lost some weight before I knit myself a sweater, but this one is too nice to wait for. Must knit it *now*.

  17. Ohhh, I love this one! I am starting to get jealous of all these “Rhinebeck sweaters”. I want one too!

  18. Beautiful sweater! Nice cables!

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