Textured Tunic

October 2009

This was a Christmas present for a friend of mine, but the choice of pattern was entirely selfish - I wanted to make one of these for myself, but I was worried about whether it would suit me or not, so a trail run seemed like a good idea.

As it turns out, I rather like the way it looks on me. Being top heavy, I've had it drilled into me for years that a high neckline won't do me any favours. So I've only made boatneck sweaters twice so far. And yet I loved, and felt fabulous, in both of them. Go figure.

Ones of the great things about knitting for other people is that you get to work with colours which might otherwise be outside of your normal palate, such as this yellow. It really isn't my sort of shade at all, and yet it was fun to work with, and didn't look as bad on me as I'd expected.

So I think this was a success... top-down seamless raglans make great presents, because you can get the recipient to try them on as you go and even get them involved in the modification process if you want to. It may spoil the surprise, but I figure a beautifully-fitting sweater is worth it.

We did modify this quite a bit - it's shorter than it's meant to be, the sleeves are a different shape, it has waist shaping and there's a couple of garter stitch rows at the neckline, because I was concerned it might roll over if it was just stocking stitch. It's a great pattern, though - anyone who can make a chunky yarn look as flattering as this is a genius as far as I'm concerned.

Pattern: Textured Tunic by Stefanie Japel from Fitted Knits

Yarn: Sirdar Tweedie Chunky

Amount: 7 skeins

Colourway: 283 Grouse

Needles: 6.00mm

Size: 37"

On ravelry: here