Beekman Tavern, the Remix Edition.

Well, "HELLO!", wool people! I am still knitting. Frequently, in fact. It's been difficult for me to strike a posting balance between sewing and knitting. Maybe someday. Until then, I plan to continue my rotational inundation of one craft over another. Barely two weeks ago, the weather instigated a much needed and long procrastinated knitting 'finishing' spree. It got gorgeous for about a week. I feared sweater weather had passed leaving me with a stack of unfinished and unworn sweaters. Silly, me. I know better. I've lived in Illinois most of my life; certainly, I've lived here long enough to know that winter doesn't truly end until June. Right on cue, the cold made a comeback.   

The cold came suddenly and perfectly timed to coincided with Liz, Meg and my plans to get together and photograph our latest joint project. Mother nature has a very strange sense of humor. In fairness, she saved the SNOW for the day following our pictures. Yes. Snow. Again. Still. UGH. At least we have woolly sweaters, right?!

Speaking of sweaters, I'm not sure it's immediately apparent, but we're all wearing a sweater knit from the same pattern. We've done some collaborative patterns in the past that easily  highlight the difference yarn variety and minor fit adjustments can make. This time around, however, we basically have three different sweaters.  

First, doesn't Liz look like a mermaid perched here?! This picture literally makes me want to burst into songs off the soundtrack of The Little Mermaid... I digress. Liz has a very well defined style and she frequently gravitates towards a vintage, 1950s silhouette. She's also very petite (side note: you should see all the math she has to do in order to get sweaters to fit her. No joke). She wasn't sure she would ultimately wear the Beekman Tavern sweater as it is designed to fit: boxy, oversized, boat neck, so she set about making modifications to make her version a fitted waist length crew neck pullover. The resulting garment absolutely has a vintage flair to it. And, it fits her beautifully! 

Meg intended to use this project as a stashbuster. She had an ample amount of yarn remaining from her Catherine Jacket, and it was her mission to use it ALL. She totally succeeded. In order to use the yardage she had, Meg converted her sweater into a tunic length sweater dress. Meg was able to get additional length by adding pattern repeats into her sweater. She didn't want her dress to be shapeless, so she added waist shaping along the sides. It was a very effective use of shaping and her sweater nips in at all the right places. 

My version of the pattern is the truest to the original design. However, I cast-on on an airplane...in the dark...  in an over tired state of mind.  I majorly botched the stitch pattern over the center panel. By the time I realized what I'd done, I had already knit six inches into the body of my garment.  DOH! Being the, sometimes, lazy knitter that I am, I decided I didn't dislike the erroneous pattern enough to RIP it back. I deemed it a design feature and forged forward. Only we will ever know that it's a mistake. :-D  

I knit the rest of the body as instructed without any shaping. This is a new silhouette for me. The sweater is quite... roomy. But, it's also very comfortable and easy. I feel very 1990s Ralph Lauren, but I love the way it looks with a straight skirt, like I'm wearing it here, and I know it will pair nicely with jeans when fall rolls in. 

The only other changes I made were adding an extra set of decreases into the neckline shaping (i needed this to keep it up on my shoulders), and eliminating the neckline split that the pattern is designed to include. All three of us opted out of that little split. It's completely a matter of preference, but I don't get it. It looks accidental, and I don't think it's very pretty. 

Pattern: Beekman Tavern by Thea Coleman
Yarn: Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool- This yarn is workhorse! I used it to knit my Oblique more than four years ago. It's one of my most worn sweaters, and it's held up to the abuse of frequent wear! And, I get a sweater from two skeins. There's no beating that. 

Following these photos, we rewarded our talented photographers Mike and Felix with brunch. We warmed ourselves with coffee and nourishment and discussed our upcoming group travel plans! Oh, I can't wait!