A Sapwood for Me

The rest of September evaporated in worried phone calls and hospital visits, interminable waiting room times and a (slow) return to regular daily life. Everyone is fine now, and we’re all trying to settle back into a daily life. I really, really appreciate the patience of the knitters at Le Mouton Rouge. We’ve rescheduled my classes there for the weekend of November 3–I hope to see everyone then!

One more bit of housekeeping: My class at Hub Mills Yarn Store next weekend has a few spots left. This is a wonderful, wonderful space for the class, the people couldn’t be better, and as I’m winding down my class schedule a bit due to family impact it’s a great chance for Boston-area knitters to get personalized instruction on knitting wardrobe staples.

*****

When the most recent issue of Twist Collective came out, I remembered how much I loved the relaxed design of my sweater in the collection, Sapwood. It may sound weird to remember how much I liked a design, but Sapwood was knit during the utterly crazy last days of the book, when everything was a total blur. I was switching back and forth between my day job to book editing to the photoshoot like a zombie–it’s no wonder my memory was a little on the hazy side!

Sapwood is like gourmet comfort food in sweater form. It’s easygoing and relaxed, with a bit of a tailored edge. It works well dressed up or down, and the sweater’s shaping makes it super flattering and easy to adjust for your body’s quirks. Looking at the pictures, I found myself wanting a Sapwood of my own!

(Twist Collective photographs copyright Jane Heller and used with permission.) Unfortunately, designers don’t actually get much time to knit sweaters for themselves… …and even less time to knit already-released sweaters for themselves. I’m full up on deadline knitting this fall, in preparation for my book release next spring. So what’s a girl to do?

Well, despite being utterly embarrassed about it, I hired a sample knitter (the wonderful Margaux and gave her modifications for knitting the pattern to my figure. I asked her to knit the pieces, and then did the blocking and finishing myself. The result? I have a brand new sweater that I totally adore.

I’ve worn it both with a nice skirt, for work, and dressed down with jeans and a tank top, like this. I’ve worn it hiking, I’ve worn it driving the kids around. It’s comfortable and easy-peasy and looks great. (The yarn is superwash, too, so it’s even easy care!)

Sapwood contains a buch of my favorite sweater elements to wear. The scoop neck, with a little henley placket, gives me just enough coverage and allows me to use some special vintage buttons:

The back of the sweater is plain, which makes for great reading/tv knitting, but the sleeves include a little lace panel. It’s a pretty touch without being too sweet. And the 3/4-length sleeves are perfect pushing-up length, which is how I always seem to wear my sweaters.

I made my usual modifications to this pattern–lengthened the body by 1”, and added an inch or so of vertical bust darts to the front.This accommodates my longer-than-average torso and gives me room in the bust without drowning my shoulders. They’re worked by working waist increases every other RS row until 5 additional increases have been worked–I decreased those extra sts into the neckline as described in my last post on Trimmings.

All in all, Sapwood has become something of a staple so far this fall. I look forward to many more years of wearing it!

10 thoughts on “A Sapwood for Me

  1. WOW. I don’t know if it’s the fit or the darker color, but I connect with your version much more strongly than the one in Twist! Thanks for sharing your version 🙂

  2. I admired the Sapwood on the new Twist Collective and it’s so nice to see it here on you! I’m definitely putting it on my queue!

  3. Would love to know the name and colour of the yarn you chose – it’s lovely

  4. You deserve three sample knitters, a really good foot rubber, and a laundry folder. Your Sapwood is gorgeous.

  5. So glad to read that everything and everyone is okay. The sweater looks gorgeous on you!

  6. Thank you for this post Amy. I agree with commenter #1. Styling is huge in terms of appeal. Your enlarging the bust while not drowned by the shoulders hit a real chord with me. I hope you will come to the D.C. Area soon at a time when I am not already committed elsewhere! it’s that personal touch that is so helpful in knitting.

  7. Wow! I think the sweater looks even better on you than it did in the pattern photos! I just love your designs. Hope things are back to normal for you.

  8. What is the fit of ease for the sweater? I like for my sleeves to be not so tight as I usually wear a mock neck shirt underneath.

  9. Love the Sapwood sweater!

  10. Hi Amy, I really like your Sapwood, better even than the one in the Twist Collective. The length seems to be better on your black on. When I zoom into the picture, I can see where the bust increases are on the vertical dart, but I don’t understand how you reduce those stitches when you get to the chest above the bust. Where does that happen? Can you show more pictures and write a bit more about it? It just seems like a very short space between the bust and shoulder to reduce any stitches. Especially since there is a scoop neck and there are hardly any stitches on each side. Thank you. Can’t wait to see the red cardigan you have previewed on the next post.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

TweetShare