Blouson is On!

Well there it is. My Rhinebeck sweater. 1824 Blouson by Mari Lynn Patrick from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. Knit with Cascade 220 The Heathers, color 9450. I LOVE this color. Unfortunately the lighting in my apartment was not cooperating this morning and it looks more gray and washed out then it actually is. I can't fire my photographer because I'm married to him and he's the only other person in our house who can hold a camera without chewing it and drooling all over it.

For the most part, I am happy with this sweater. I even like the reverse stockinette! This pattern was easy to knit yet not boring because of the interesting finishing details. (My pleat tutorial is here.) My woulda, shoulda, coulda would be the size. I don't knit a lot of sweaters for myself, so I was fudging my size vs ease. I knit the smallest size which measures a 34" bust. I learned the hard way that the drape is not built in to the pattern. You have to knit up a size to get the drape. You can see more information about that here. (Wish this info been posted earlier!) If I could do it over, (and I probably won't) I would knit the next size up. I love the blouse effect of this sweater. I love how the sleeves turned out, but the waist isn't blousey. I blocked the hell out of it, but that just flattened the pleats, so there is not much of a blouse effect at all. Maybe when my boobs go back to pre-breast feeding size, there will be more blouse in my Blouson.