Heichi and Silk Cloud pullover

The patterns created especially for Shibui yarns encourage you to mix two fibers together – in fact, there’s an entire line of “mix” patterns just for this purpose.  Shibui Mix No. 1 is a perfect example of how the combination of two Shibui yarns results in a wonderful “new” fiber.  Here’s you knit double-stranded with Heichi (100% silk) and Silk Cloud (60% mohair, 40% silk).  The end product is sturdy but soft, with a little bit of a halo cloud from the mohair.

The pattern is a simple pullover with ribbing at the neck, sleeves, and hem.  However, it’s got a lot of styling to it, and I made a few changes, as well.  First off, I knit up a size – 40.5″ – and it’s a good thing, because even at this size, it’s a pretty tight fit (which is the style of this sweater, after all).  I used 9 skeins of Heichi (I didn’t need 10, as recommended by the pattern) in color Caffeine, and 3 skeins of Silk Cloud (instead of the 4 recommended by the pattern) in color Camel.

Here are my modifications:

* I knit with both yarns for all of the ribbing – instead of just the Heichi, as recommended by the pattern – I tried using only Heichi for the bottom hem, but I didn’t like the effect at all.  It was too rough to go with the finished look of the sweater body, so I ripped it out and re-did it.

* I changed all of the ribbing from K2 P2 to K1 P1 — again, this sweater seemed to need a more refined look than the wide ribbing effect of a K2 P2 stitch.

* I knit the neck ribbing to only about 1 1/4″ (instead of 2″) because the neck opening was already pretty tight, and the narrower band was more in keeping with the rest of the sweater’s look.

* On the sleeves, I was worried about weather they’d be too tight, so I increased by 6 sts at the armhole.  I stayed with the pattern’s reductions until approx 9″, then I reduced 2 sts every 1″ so that I was down to 40 sts (in accordance with the pattern) by the time I started the ribbing (at 13″).  I ribbed extra long, approx 9″, so that the sleeves would be long enough to fold over.  At 3″ into the ribbing, I reduced by another 4 sts, then another 4 sts again at approx 8″ into the ribbing.

* On the bottom ribbing, I increased by approx 10 sts right before starting the ribbing, because I didn’t want it to be too hip-hugging.  Even with the increases, it’s a close fit, but not one that can’t ride over my hips.

* For the body, I worked only to 15 1/2″ (instead of the pattern’s recommended 18″) before starting the ribbing, because otherwise the sweater would have reached down close to my knees!

* I used the recommended US 9 for the body of the sweater, but I only went down to a US 7 for the body and sleeve ribbing, and US 6 for the neck ribbing.