Stitch and story's Aloc jumper, aka fastest jumper ever

I had a bit of crafty weekend (or week even, the joys of being a student!). During the day I sewed my Francoise dress, and in the evening I knitted a jumper. Don't ask me why, for some reason in my head sewing is a daytime activity and knitting is done in the evening in front of the TV.

This is the Aloc jumper from Stitch and Story, which I bumped into at the Knit and Stitch show in October. They lured me in with their squishy, soft merino wool and the promise of a chunky lacy jumper that only needs four skeins of yarn. I was sold. My plans of buying some bulky/super chunky yarn to make the Swizzle Vest from the Domiknitrix book (that's where the Sweetheart jumper is from by the way, don't ask how that is going!) went out of the window.

I even paid £8 for the pattern, which to me is outrageous. I should note here that Stitch and Story is a similar idea to Wool and the Gang, which sell knitting kits, primarily using chunky yarn, and their patterns are similarly outrageously priced. I can't understand the logic behind it other than their target is the beginner knitter, who doesn't know that buying a pdf pattern on Ravelry will cost about £3-5 for most designers. I paid for it though so whatever, I'm easily convinced to part with my money.

Anyway, back to the jumper. Its actually a very basic lace/fishnet design knitted flat (yes, despite my better judgment...) in four pieces (front panel, back panel and two sleeves). And its made using 12mm needles. And its cropped, with short sleeves. It took me 3 days to knit... Yes, 3 days! That must be some kind of record in jumper knitting surely.

Pre-assembly

The final product

BUT... I hated knitting with the 12mm needles. They are so hard to handle, so awkward and uncomfortable. And it probably took me as long to knit half the front panel as it took me to assemble it. On the other hand, 3 days... I can live with the annoyances.

Random action shot of me reading

I did have some issues with the pattern though, in case anyone does decide to buy the kit. I was told I only needed four skeins of yarn (at 100g each) but I run out of yarn (even though I made the small version) and could not make the sleeves long enough. And because the sleeves are meant to gradually increase in stitch count from bottom up to match the number of stitches on the body, I had trouble sewing them on, and they feel a bit weird around the shoulders. I also spotted a couple of mistakes in the written pattern itself: for the front panel, it says to repeat the lace row 12 more times to a total of 48 rows, but that doesn't add up, it should say to repeat 11 more times (or 12 times in total). And for the back panel, the shaping of the left hand side does not match the shaping of the right, it should start with 6 repeats, going down to 4.

Regardless of the pattern, I can thoroughly recommend the yarn, in fact I couldn't stop stroking it every time I put my knitting down. They describe it as "super soft like candy floss" and I would  totally agree with that! It could do with being a bit more twisted (hiding the ends was a right pain), but I guess that's what makes it so soft? Either way, I love it - and I haven't been paid to say this!