happy fall, y’all.

I figure today’s as good a day as any to debut my newest sweater:

I’ve tentatively named this design “Haapsalu Autumn”, Haapsalu being the town in Estonia from which the nupp/lace motifs that inspired the maple leaf design came. Here are the details:

Ravelry Project Page
Pattern: My own, inspired by the Haapsalu style lace described in Nancy Bush’s “Knitted Lace of Estonia”.
Yarn: Beaverslide Dry Goods Worsted Weight, in “Clearwater”.
Gauge: 4 sts and 6 rows to the inch.
Needles: size 8 Denise Interchangeables and Knitpicks Harmony dpns
Time to knit: August 19th-September 19th. Exactly one month!

Y’all, the Beaverslide. It is amazing stuff. Delightfully wooly to knit with, complete with little bits of vegetable matter (which may bother some people, but not me!). But the knitting isn’t even the best part. The best part is what happens after it gets a bath. This yarn blooms like you would not believe. The knit stitches turn into this soft, cohesive fabric, and the nupps just pop. It’s amazing. I can’t recommend this yarn highly enough.

I ended up finding a set of relatively light weight pewter buttons, with actual holes in them, rather than a shank. I really like the look of the silver against the dark teal, so I’m quite happy with my choice, although I’m sure it would have looked lovely with any of the buttons you lovely readers suggested on my last post, too. For those who have asked, I do intend to write this up as a pattern for sale, in multiple sizes. It may take me awhile, though, since the size of the leaf motif is so large that it makes resizing and shaping a bit difficult to think through.

Today was not the best day for a photoshoot (it was raining on me the entire time), but I just couldn’t resist showing this sweater off on the first day of Autumn. Happy Equinox, everybody! (And especially to my husband, since today marks the start of our 19th season together as a married couple!)