Projects
My Petula: A Love Story
Not gonna lie: I didn’t join a knitalong. I didn’t share or care. I just grabbed an unedited pattern, mooched some yarn, and knit myself a sweater without a word to anybody or anything.
It was so so so so so so so fun.
I can’t even tell you when I was making this—was I Banging Out two sweaters at the same time? It was all a blur of lambswool and joy.
The pattern? Isabell Kraemer’s brand-new Petula Pullover, one of the highlights of our brand-new MDK Field Guide No. 10: Downtown.
The yarn: Jill Draper’s Mohonk, that woolly yarn that we’ve just stacked up in the MDK Shop. This is the original version in Dove and Barnsides.
My colors: Charred Coal and Bering for the yoke.
In no court of law would these sleeves be judged to match. I love this so much.
The start of each skein was the beginning of a whole new adventure. The saturation level reflects exactly what happened back in Jill Draper’s dye pot. How saturated or not the color depends on where it lands in the dyepot. Again, I love this so much.
I know a lot of knitters work with this sort of hand-dyed yarns by knitting with two skeins, alternating rounds from one skein to the other. I didn’t do that. And I didn’t ease the transition from old skein to new by alternating a few rows with the new yarn. I guess I wanted to let it spool out exactly as it was dyed. Imperfection is something I think about a lot these days, and I frankly crave it.
Each skein had its own drama. The skein above had superdark moments that had me anticipating each round as if I were working with crazy-clown variegated color. Is it time for Superdark? Back to Paleygray? The drama of it all.
Please do not tell me I need to get out more—while making this sweater, all I wanted to do was to make this sweater. I haven’t been so compelled by a yarn in a long time.
Needless to say, I’m already scheming another Petula. Some of the colors in the Shop are totally springfest colorwow. This next one will be very, very different. And I’m going to fish out the most varied, color-shifting skeins I can find. Knitting with Mohonk is like binge watching a TV series, only with yarn.
I love the variation in color. Your sweater looks fabulous!
I, too, love the variation in color. I’m so glad that you did not alternate rounds with two skeins of the yarn!
Thanks for sharing the emotional journey of this sweater. I felt I traveled along with you, and I loved your craving for imperfection. You just relaxed and enjoyed the knitting, and by sharing it here I was able to enjoy your journey too. Love the FO!
I agree about craving imperfection. So many made things are completely standardized – good in prescription drugs, less great in many other things – that I want my handmade items to stand out in all their imperfect glory. I love your color choices here and may copy them. I am thinking of casting on a Petulan or Humulus but will need to add some waist shaping and that scares me. Screwing up a sweater terrifies me which is weird bcause I am generally a fearless knitter.
I typed Petula multiple times but autocorrect clearly wasn’t having it!
Embrace the imperfection
Your sharing just being in the moment with fabulous yarn was just what I needed. Thank you for embracing the now in yarn and knitting. And for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing.
♥️
I have yet to meet a Jill Draper yarn that wasn’t awesome! I recommend trying her Kingston – targee wool in beautiful tweedy colors. Nice to knit with, but the real magic is when it’s washed. I haven’t tried the Mohonk yet, but I think I feel an attack of yarn purchasing coming on….
After I saw Field Guide #10 I fell in love with Petula and immediately ordered Mohonk in Barnsides and Manzinita. I too love the variations in hand dyed yarn and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
I love it! I made my son a cabled sweater in Madelinetosh vintage color thunderstorm and also didn’t do the blending in of skeins. It came out with some light and dark stripes and I loved the effect!
I, too, crave some imperfection! I think especially with the absolute perfection in social media photos, we need freedom to embrace the wonkiness, errors and messes we make when creating – let them shine, take and share those photos! We stifle ourselves so much in art and in making when the goal is perfection.
And of course, I think your sweater IS perfect. I love the colors so much, and I’m spending fun time debating my color choices for my upcoming Petula.
I can sooo relate to the anticipation of what subtle shift in shade is coming next. That’s what I’m experiencing with Julie Asselin’s Hektos in Sauge Argentee:) Is it grayish blueish with a pinkish undertone? So beautiful knit up!! Your Petula is gorgeous
Just go with your “gut”. Well done and make you happy.
When does March Madness start? If you hadn’t teased us, ok asked for ideas, I wouldn’t be waiting with bated breath. Like dem sports boys, it makes it hard for me to focus on oher posts. Sorry!
That headline gave me earworms! Now I’ve got a crazy mash-up of “My Sharona” and “Love Story” running through my head! “Where do I begin, to tell the story of mm-mm-my Petula….”
I just bought the MDK field guide no. 10 from my LYS and am very excited to get going on the Petula sweater. I have knit a couple of Isabell Kraemer’s patterns in the past – a sweater and a shawl. Her patterns are wonderful. The yarn that is recommended from Jill Draper Makes Stuff looks like it’d be a joy to work with but for now I am going to go into my stash and use some lovely fingering wt yarn from Blacker yarns. I love the tonality of the Jill Draper yarn. It would make any project amazing.
I am so inspired as I read your posts. Your approach is full speed ahead, take no prisoners, and no I won’t always color inside the lines and it’s okay. Fairly new to this craft I find myself knitting and ripping, knitting and tinking because it isn’t like the picture – but after reading this knitting adventure I now know I must alter my approach or wither away in the dusty bin of conformity – looking like my knitting came off the rack of some box store –
Stunning.
I really like the idea of not alternating skeins on a sweater and just letting the yarn take me where it wants to go… A year ago I stopped for gas on a road trip, saw a yarn store across the street, and there found an oddly lovely yarn by a dyer I’d never heard of, Autumn and Indigo. The colorway was a mix of pale and mustardy yellows with little speckles of pastel pink, olive green, and navy blue. In no way should this color work, but it called to me…so much that I actually went back to the dyer to get sweater quantity! But there is obviously a lot of variation going on in the skeins, in colors as well as saturation, so I’ve been debating about how to alternate skeins, maybe to stripe it with a more solid color. I think instead I’ll just dive in!
Beauteous!
Your wabi-sabi sweater! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi
Love how you just let everything happen. Looks beautiful. When do we get to see you wearing it?
Gorgeous!
You sneaky knit a sweater without us?! Whoa!
Your non-alternated skeins make me consider letting the chips fall where they may on my shawl. Can I break out of my rules-oriented box? We shall see!
This post couldn’t have come at a better time! I just completed a Humulous, which I love by the way, and dutifully alternated skeins every two rounds to blend any variation in colors of my selected yarn. The process literally sucked the joy out knitting the sweater! Next time I will go your route.
Also, I wear it all the time! I love this sweater and plan on knitting more Isabell Kraemer designs in the future!