{"id":3043,"date":"2019-06-01T08:47:09","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T06:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=3043"},"modified":"2019-05-29T08:48:11","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T06:48:11","slug":"gotland-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/gotland-top\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotland top"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have nothing educational to offer you in today’s blog post. Instead I show you my latest finished fluff to stuff project \u2013 a Gotland top in my own design and handspun yarn from the Gotland sheep Sounnie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sounnie
Sounnie the Gotland top. Photo by Dan Waltin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Those of you who have followed my blog the last few months have seen the wool before. It is the freakishly long locks of the Gotland lamb Sounnie that I wrote about in an article in the spring issue of Spin-off magazine<\/a> and a blog post on Gotland wool <\/a>a while ago. Some of you also attended the breed study webinar on Gotland wool where I demonstrated how I prepared, spun and used the wool. Those of you who attended the Gotland wool webinar also saw a glimpse of the yoke on the needles in the webinar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sounnie, a Gotland top<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gotland wool in general has a lot of shine, strength and drape, ad so did the fleece I had from the Gotland lamb Sounnie. I wanted to honour these main characteristics in both the yarn and the textile. I played with different preparations, spinning and textile techniques until I found a yarn that would give me the shine, strength and drape the fleece had on the sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Just as I did the yarn and the textile, I wanted my Gotland top to signal shine, strength and drape. I chose to knit a fitted raglan yoke and give the top drape below the bust line. I had a vision of sort of an early 19th century empire look \u2013 fitted bust, elbow-length sleeves with some flair and a drapey bodice. At the same time I wanted a sporty look to give it a more modern touch, hence the stripes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Sounnie top has a longer back piece and elbow-length sleeves with flair. Photo by Dan Waltin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The finished top didn’t turn out as drapey as I had envisioned (I am a beginner designer and learning knitting maths by trial and error), but I still like the result. And the longer back-piece adds a little drape. The neckline should have been rounder, I do need to practice my short-row neck shaping. Dan commented that the sweater looked a bit medieval, and I do agree. So a sporty empire medieval top with a square neck it is then!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Gotland top has a top-down seamless construction. What may look like side seams are actually just a column of P2 to balance the front and the back and to give the side increases something to lean against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"What
What may look like a side seam is actually a column of P2 to balance the front and the back. Photo by Dan Waltin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Neckline, sleeve ends and hemline are knit in garter stitch. I used short row shaping (I now officially love German short rows!) in the hemline for a longer back piece. I love this detail and I managed to get the maths right from the beginning. Yay!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The little flair in the sleeve ends are just increases in one row. I wanted a flair or trumpet effect and not a frill. I tried two different varieties and I think I got the increase to stay on the right end of the thin frill border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Flair
Flair \u2013 not frill. Photo by Dan Waltin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Challenges<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of challenges on the winding road of beginner designing. But I learn a lot from every detour and every curve of the ride. All the things I learn are knit into the garment and form a map of what I have learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knitting direction<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to knit it bottom-up as it is \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 a lot easier to calculate the numbers bottom-up than top-down. But I wasn’t sure there would be enough yarn and I didn’t want to run out of yarn at the bustline. Better to have a garment too short at the bottom than at the top, wouldn’t you agree?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short rows<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned above, I didn’t get the neckline the way I had envisioned. I do like the one I ended up with, but it does bother me that I didn’t get it rounder. I’ll have to investigate that for my next design. The yarn isn’t really forgiving. It is a 2-ply yarn and they tend to show holes and irregularities more than 3-ply yarns. The w&t short rows in the back neck show, but I’ll have to live with that. The German short rows on the lower back hem look very nice, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The short-rows didn’t make the neckline as round as I had envisioned. I’m still practicing. Photo by Dan Waltin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dyeing dilemma<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Since I was unsure of how much yarn I would need I only dared to dye one skein for the stripes. And of course there was too little dyed yarn left when I got to the bottom hem. So I dyed a bit more, using the same dye lot, but since I’m not an experienced dyer, the colour didn’t exactly match the original colour. The three bottom rounds have a more yellow tone than the top three in the hemline. But I’m the only one who will see it. If nothing else, it is part of the story of a new design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

When you read this I will be away on the 2019 wool journey with my wool traveling club. I will report about the event in an upcoming post!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Happy spinning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

You can follow me on several social media:<\/p>\n\n\n\n