The Bathtub Sweater

While "Bathtub Sweater" could mean that this dress is like dipping into a warm bath and not wanting to leave... it actually refers to one of my favorite hobbies — dipping into a warm bath and reading through old Rowan Magazines!

 (I haven't had one fall in yet, though I did have a "correction" insert slip out and have a swim.)

Rowan is about to release Magazine 77 on March 14, so that means I have 75 tubs worth of reading. 75 because I'm missing just one -- Number 3. Let me know if you are selling it, this is the cover!

I'm missing Rowan Magazine #3, that minx!

Recently, I pulled Rowan Mag No. 30 out for the soak, and was intrigued by a relatively simple design called Snug by Kim Hargreaves.

As is common in older mags, the design came in a few versions (children's, tank, cropped or longer) with two different yarn choices (Rowan Polar or Rowanspun Chunky). I thought, why not make a new size... "Even Longer"?

I got to calculating yardage and noticed that the long discontinued Rowanspun Chunky was similar in weight and yardage to a gifted yarn I had languishing in my stash, Noro Nadeshiko.

Why languishing? Well, unlike a lot of things in my stash, I felt like this stuff had to be used. Long ago, an older man joined our knitting group at the library and we built a great friendship. We would go driving around Maine exploring farms and shops and I'd play hooky from work to sit under his apple trees, pick raspberries and drink lemonade. He was learning to knit so that he could make something for his daughter, particularly because family circumstances had put a strain on their relationship. He fell for this chunky, color-changing angora mix and was determined to make her a zippered vest. As his first project! He managed it beautifully, though I admit I had to put in that zipper. 😅

Life moved him on and he bequeathed me two things. A bottle of Chambord and a boatload of Noro Nadeshiko yarn in three colorways. It was enough to finally, 5 years later, make a sweater dress! Thank you, dear Ken, I hope you are well.

It actually didn't start as a dress. I thought that I only had enough yarn for the regular version and made it to the letter. But when I saw how much yarn remained, I decided to lengthen it.

STEP BY STEP WITH GRAFTING:

1. Snip somewhere in the middle of the stockinette row that is two rows above the last row of ribbing.
2. Unravel the yarn through each stitch towards an end, catching live loops onto a circular knitting needle.
3. Use the other side of the circular needle to repeat from the middle to the other end.
4. Keep your ribbing for later by catching those live stitches onto another circular needle.
5. Knit the body as long as you need. If you are using a color-changing yarn, try to end on a color that is similar to the ribbing piece row!
6. Kitchener graft the body to the ribbing piece. You'll probably be off by a stitch at the end , so just kitchener two stitches together to make up for the difference. 

STEP BY STEP WITHOUT GRAFTING:

1. Snip somewhere in the middle of the stockinette row that is two rows above the last row of ribbing.
2. Unravel the yarn through each stitch towards an end, catching live loops onto a circular knitting needle.
3. Use the other side of the circular needle to repeat from the middle to the other end.
4. Knit the body as long as you need.
5. Unravel your ribbing piece to use the yarn to re-do the ribbing.

Honestly, a sweater dress is WAY more versatile for the climate in Bar Harbor, Maine (see the end of this blog post)!

I was skeptical whether these 3 colorways would match. The ribbing is a gray and turquoise colorway, the edges are a bright green and pink colorway, and the middle is orange, red and brown. Certainly not something I would pick out purposefully, but somehow it came out rather fun. To top it off, without planning it, I seemed to have mirror imaged the colorways.

TIP: Remember that Noro or other color changing yarns go in a certain direction when you pull from the outside vs. the center of a skein.

I managed to color match most of the sleeves, though they got out of sync by the upper arms.

I also significantly shortened the turtleneck length. I'm not a fan of folding them down.

As you can see, there's a lot of snow around these parts. We've had the most wimpy, watery winters for years and finally we have a season to be proud of. Our winters, no matter how rainy, last at least six months, so pieces like this are my bread and butter!

In celebration of my 10th anniversary on Mount Desert Island, I'll leave you with the 2015 blog post I made during a really snowy winter.

Looking back, the photos gave me a chuckle.

Time flies. See you next time!

XO,

Dayana Knits

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