My Bateau-Style Sweater
Bateau-Style Sweater Ravelry Post
Pattern: my own
Yarn: The Fibre Co. Luma in Blanca
A few years back I had a sweater that I loved, and wore constantly until it died a slow, drawn out, sad, stretched out, holey death. This sweater was perfect for spring, fall, chilly summer nights up at the cabin, layering, you name it and that sweater was on the job. Years later I was still mourning it's loss so I decided to recreate the sweater from my loving memories of it.
I used The Fibre Co. Luma yarn which knit up super fast on size US6 needles for the body and US4 for the ribbing. From first swatch to finish this sweater took almost exactly 3 months. That might not be super fast but it also includes all the swatching, math ,and knitting half a sleeve before starting over with an adjusted gauge so it felt pretty fast to me!
The sweater has a slightly oversized, slightly a-line body that hits mid hip with deep hem ribbing. All of the ribbing is 2x2 except for the outer edges which are 1x1. This is to give the edges of the split hem a slightly more structured appearance. The split joins 3/4" up from the top of the ribbing, rather than at the top of the ribbing, which kind of gives it more of an intentional look and also balances out the deep ribbing a bit.
The sleeves are sort of 3/4 length, which proportionally I think works best with the rest of the sweater. They're long enough that I can wear them inside of a jean jacket, but short enough that they don't get in my way while I'm working. I hate sleeves that hit at my wrists because all they do is get in my way every single day. I always either wear this length sleeve, or roll my long sleeves up absentmindedly to this length. This sweater is a bit lightweight due to the drape and the yarn composition so this length makes sense with the type of weather I'd be wearing it in.
The neckline is my perfect boatneck, and also similar to the neck on the Lark Tee. I hate when things cut across too close to my neck, it always makes me feel like I'm choking. I also find it really graceful for a boatneck's lowest point to hit at the suprasternal notch. It crosses the collarbones nicely and ends up in that point of the shoulder that dips slightly where the trapezius muscle and clavicle intersect. I always think a neckline looks great hitting right there.
The back neckline has a slight dip as well which I think is pretty with the front dip. I also love a bit of a back neckline dip anyway, I find it a bit more comfortable than sweaters that cut straight across at the back neck. I'm definitely super specific about my necklines though; I don't know how much other people care about this kind of stuff.
The neckline is 2x2 rib, folded over on itself and slipstitched to the hem, so the entire inside of the neckline, from sleeve cap to sleeve cap, is finished. This made me very happy! The stitches at the neckline are about 1/2 stitch off, which I couldn't really find a way around, but it's not too noticeable at least. The sweater has set in sleeves and was knit in pieces, then seamed. All of this is visible in the upper left of the 2nd post photo.
There are a few things I would change if I were to knit this again, and I will most likely be doing that. I'm debating using the same yarn in either Willow or Grigio, maybe adding a stripe or something or trying out a different DK yarn alltogether. I'll have to ponder this a bit, but there will definitely be another one of these. If there's one thing I know about myself it's that I know what I like and I like to make it a uniform. I learned a ton making this sweater and I'm excited to knit a few things from patterns, then work on another idea I have. My mom likes to say I'm a perpetual student and I love that designing a sweater gives me a new way to think about, and apply my patternmaking skills. It also gives me the opportunity test all of the skills I've learned over my years of knitting, as well as learn new ones!
